Sebastian Kalinowski died of an infection caused by “untreated complications of multiple rib fractures” after weeks of “severe assaults and abuse”, prosecutors said. Sebastian was beaten with a bed slat, whipped with an extension cord and stabbed with a needle by his mother Agnieszka Kalinowska, 35, and her partner Andrzej Latoszewski, 38, a jury heard. The boy, who moved to Poland to live with his mother in the UK less than a year before she died in August 2021, was also made to complete “humiliating” exercises. Kalinowska sobbed in the dock after being found guilty of her son’s murder. Police had seized CCTV cameras from the home of Kalinowska and Latozewski after they were arrested in connection with Sebastian’s death. Prosecutors said the cameras were installed in part to “monitor and control Sebastian from a distance.” The seized footage showed the boy being attacked most severely by Latozewski, but his mother “got involved at various times”, jurors heard. CCTV footage from the day of Sebastian’s death showed Latoszewski pulling him out of his bedroom at 8.25am. before taking him back 15 minutes later, “naked, clearly wet and unconscious” and trying to revive him. The emergency services were only called after Sebastian had been unconscious for around two and a half hours. The boy succumbed to an infection caused by “untreated complications of multiple rib fractures.” Kalinowska and Latoszewski denied murdering Sebastian but were found guilty at Leeds Crown Court today. Latoszewski had admitted manslaughter on the second day of the trial, while both defendants pleaded guilty to child cruelty a day later. Kalinowska also denied causing or allowing the death of a child. Prosecutors alleged that the two acted in concert to inflict the fatal injuries. The judge, Mrs Justice Lambert, said the pair would not be sentenced until October at the earliest. An NSPCC spokesman said: “In the months before his life was brutally taken, Sebastian Kalinowski’s mother and her partner – the very people who should have nurtured him into adulthood – subjected him to cruelty and misery. “People will ask how a child in our society could suffer such a horrific campaign of abuse without anyone intervening. “That’s why it’s so important that no stone is left unturned in the review looking into the circumstances surrounding their death. We would urge anyone concerned about the safety of a child or young person to speak up and seek support whenever they have a concern.”
