A woman and her partner have been jailed for life in Leeds over the murder of her 15-year-old son Sebastian Kalinowski.
Agnieszka Kalinowska and Andrzej Latoszewski were sentenced to a minimum term of 39 years for killing the teenager after subjecting him to a campaign of “torture”.
The teenager had moved to the UK from Poland to live with Kalinowska, 35, and her long-term partner Latoszewski, 36, less than a year prior to his death, Leeds Crown Court heard.
He died last August of an infection caused by “untreated complications of multiple rib fractures”, which the court was told came after weeks of “cruel assaults and abuse”.
The 15-year-old was beaten with a bed slat, whipped with an extension cable and stabbed with a needle, jurors were told.
After the couple’s arrest, West Yorkshire Police seized CCTV cameras from their home in Huddlesfield believed to have been installed partly to “monitor and exert control over Sebastian remotely”.
“In a twist, it is that system that has recorded the abuse he had to endure,” prosecutor Jason Pitter QC told the court.
Sebastian’s father Jacek Kalinowski watched proceedings by video link from Poland.
Sentencing Kalinowska and Latoszewski, Ms Justice Lambert told them: “You, Latoszewski, are a bully. Like all bullies, you sought to intimidate and frighten Sebastian, who was weaker than you. In Sebastian you found an easy prey.
“There were times when viewing the footage I was sure you had lost awareness of the fact that you were hitting a human being and not a punching bag.
“As for you, Kalinowska, the explanation is simple – you just didn’t care about Sebastian. You were only interested in yourself.”
In a victim impact statement read to the court, Mr Kalinowski called Kalinowska “the greatest evil that walks this Earth”, saying: “In a cruel and heartless way you have taken the life of my son. You turned every day of Sebastian’s life into a nightmare.
“Why did you hate him to that degree when you allowed that psychopath to treat Sebastian like that, and then you readily participated in the whole thing. You inflicted so much pain and humiliation on him. You made my son a punchbag for yourself, you committed a terrifying act and you were merciless.
“I made many mistakes as a parent. Perhaps I was not able to be a perfect father, but I loved Sebastian. However I could not protect him from evil, evil which was inflicted on him by his own mother.”
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