Policewoman: degenerates from Stalowa Wola beat to kill

Almost seventeen years old Basia from Stalowa Wola did not protest when her mother and younger sister left for Germany. She was fed up with home quarrels, in which curses and unrefined, vulgar words were uttered. Physically developed beyond her age, she still could not accept the life of her mother, who came home late on a "good date" in the company of admirers. - Basia took her younger sister Frania and hid from her mother in the basements and staircases. And when they felt cold and hungry, they asked for help from their neighbors. When she was pointed out that she was neglecting her daughters, she would angrily say, "Who needs my life ?!" - says Anna Zielińska-Brudek, a policewoman, a longtime spokeswoman for the Police Headquarters in Tarnobrzeg, later at the Road Traffic Department in Kielce. She remembers this story because it happens almost in front of her eyes.

Overnight, Basia's mother became a business woman - she left the workplace and opened a flower shop. Stylish furniture and expensive carpets began to appear in the apartment. - The apartment grew in abundance, and the children ... in a sense of orphanhood and loneliness. Basia missed her father - an alcoholic who had moved out of this house. She reminded her mother that she made Daddy drunk, says policewoman Anna Zielińska-Brudek.

Anyone could enter Basia's apartment, it is enough that he knew the key word

Basia was relieved when her mother left with Frania abroad in 1988. She left her teenage daughter a furnished, four-room, owner-occupied apartment. And my uncle - mother's brother undertook in writing to look after the minor and pay the rent.

Basia soon accepted a young lady with a child and a man. But the tenants didn't stay long. During the first argument, Basia threw them out. Since then, men have become the guests of this house, to put it mildly - various kinds of ornaments. The youngest was only 16 years old, so he was Basia's peer, but the apartment was also visited by 50-year-olds.

Photo: Police Archive 59-year-old Witold R. from Stalowa Wola will stand trial for the last time during the breathalyser test and will be sent to prison, where in 2012, after two years of imprisonment, he will die

Those who left prisons and had nowhere to go, homeless lovers and false friends found a shelter in this house. Basia's apartment was full of regulars. They came at different times of the day and night, knocked and had an appointment for a key word. It was a code - whoever knew it, the door was immediately open to him.

People in the apartment appeared and disappeared, and the door closed behind someone, it opened for new guests. Basia, on the other hand, was able to stay in the apartment for weeks. The guests were shopping. Again, the house, as in the mother's time, resounded with drunken screams and singing. There were more and more arguments and brawls.

She shouted back to the neighbors: "Who needs my life?" So they called the police

Basia was a strong, well-built girl, so if one of her clients did not like her, she took him by the collar and threw him out the door. The apartment has become a nightmare not only for the neighbors, but also for the residents of the entire block. One day it even happened that drunk partygoers wanted to throw one of the men who were in the apartment at the time from the balcony.

- It's good that I just looked out the window - recalls Basia's neighbor. I look up, and here a man is hanging in the air, holding on to the balcony railing rod with only one hand. I burst into Basia's apartment, and here the whole company is laughing hard. I barely saved the unfortunate man - he adds.

When Basia's neighbors pointed out that it was too loud in the apartment, just like her mother used to be, she shouted: "Who needs my life?" . When the requests and threats did not help, local residents called the police. Uniforms took company if there was one in the apartment, because most often, when they arrived, they would find no one anymore.

"This tragedy must have happened" - says a friend of "Bela", a former neighbor

Basia's former neighbor, when asked what Basia was, replies: "She was a nice girl. Not ugly, but too fat, and that's why she got the nickname Bela". The woman continues:

- She came to us. Once she asked if her mother from Germany could call her on our phone. But she never called. It was clear that "Bela" was looking for contact with her mother and sister. She admitted that from the moment she left, and a year has passed, neither of them even sent a card. My father sometimes visited her, but I never saw this uncle's guardian appointed by her mother.

Photo: Private archive of the interviewee Anna Zielińska-Brudek, policewoman

- This tragedy must have happened - says a friend of "Bela". - The drama grew slowly. Now I know it could have been prevented, but we are just used to a lot of things happening in this house. Some for ordinary human comfort, others for fear of drunk lumps living in this house.

It was in this apartment, behind the shabby door, behind the threshold, in front of which there was often rubbish, that the tragedy took place. When in the evening a policeman knocked on the door of "Bela", she screamed, terrified: "Is Bela dead?" "Yes," replied the policeman.

"I asked him if I could come in, I'm a nurse," recalls the woman. - I thought that maybe Basia could be saved - adds the former neighbor, because although she thought that Basia was dead and the officer confirmed it, there was a shimmering hope that maybe ... - We entered. Half-naked Bela was lying on her stomach in the bathroom, facing the floor, the woman recalls.

"I saw her yesterday in front of the block, she was waiting for someone" - she testified to the policemen

- Death was by suffocation. The murderer must have surprised Basia, because there were no signs of a fight, as if the girl had not tried to defend herself at all - adds policewoman Anna Zielińska-Brudek.

As a neighbor of "Bela" recalled, the apartment was in an incredible mess. One of the walls in the apartment has been demolished. There were bits of paneling in the room, piles of rubbish, vodka bottles, and food scraps.

- I saw her yesterday in front of the block, she was anxious, she asked about the time as if she was waiting for someone ... - Basia's neighbor told the policeman.

- I tried to recreate the background of the incident as a journalist - says policewoman Anna Zielińska-Brudek, who was also a spokeswoman for the police in Kielce, and previously a journalist. Today she returns to the issues that touched her the most when she worked in the police force years ago. - I am trying to find out who and why took the life of a young girl. I am setting the addresses of regular visitors to her house - she says.

Anna Zielińska-Brudek one rainy day knocked on the door of one of these men. - On the threshold I was greeted by a naked man with a huge tattoo on a hairy chest. He looked me up and down and said:

- What do you want to know about "Bela"? I was sleeping with her. I'd love to do it with you too. You came alone? Really alone? Don't be afraid, here you can sit down - on the bed.

- I saw a commotion and vodka bottles lined up in a row. The man told me: "The day before the tragedy, four guys stayed overnight, two of them left in the morning." I started to withdraw calmly towards the door and left this apartment - says Anna Zielińska-Brudek.

He did not want to say who the killer was, but during the interrogation he "sprinkled"

Less than a year later, the policewoman found out that one of the suspects in the murder of 17-year-old "Bela" was Witek. - Known in "metallurgical city" thug, recidivist - says Anna Zielińska-Brudek.

- He once confided to his friend: "You know, I killed Bela, if you don't believe it, go and see". He went, saw, believed and called the police. He did not want to say who the killer was, but during the interrogation he "spilled" - the policewoman recalls. She described it in one of the local newspapers.

After the text was published, he called her prosecutors. First for a hearing, then for one of the hearings in the court in Sandomierz. - At the sight of me, the defendant got up from his chair and shouted: "It's because of you f… I'm here!" - he recalls.

This man was Witold R. He was arrested. Only that for six months the prosecutor's office did not manage to collect sufficient evidence on the basis of which the man could be brought back to trial.

After being released from detention, Witek even demanded compensation from the law enforcement agencies. The criminal, certain of his impunity, together with his brother Roman began to demonstrate in the underworld of Stalowa Wola who was in charge here.

One of the brothers insulted the policeman. It seemed that this would be their end

- They did not choose their means, they blackmailed, they beat. Fear paralyzed people so that even with obvious harm they did not blame their brothers, or rather did not report them. This was the case with both the men who were stabbed by Witek and Roman, and with the beaten girl who said during the interrogation: "I do not blame Witek, because I am afraid of him," recalls Anna Zielińska-Brudek.

It happened that the "horses" standing in front of Pewex gave Witek their fate. Just such a tribute, for the sake of peace. At one point, however, it seemed that the brothers' reign would come to an end. Because one of them insulted the policeman. However, nothing like that happened - even the militiamen themselves treated it as a harmless incident.

He was silent, but he and his brother went to seek revenge on Stefan

And then that day followed ... Nobody knew the reason why Roman started a fight with 47-year-old Stefan S. nicknamed Dzik. - The fist fight was won by Stefan, a strong man, powerfully built - recalls the policewoman.

However, the defeated Roman did not give up. Beaten, he immediately went in search of his brother. - It's a shame for the family not to take revenge - the policewoman explains the honor code of the underworld.

"You have to fuck Stefan," Roman had told his brother then. Witek was silent, but it was simply silent consent. Because without delaying even a moment, he went with Witek to Stefan S. However, "Dzik" felt what was happening and did not open the door for the brothers. This infuriated them so much that they broke them off.

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The police detained a German who was driving along the Lubuskie section of the A2 motorway 241 km per hour.

Witek grabbed a chair in the room and started hitting Stefan with it so hard that it fell apart. And then the brothers tortured Stefan for so long that he stopped showing any signs of life. Even though the neighbors heard the noise earlier, they pretended that nothing was happening. They only started to lean out of their apartment doors after everything was quiet. - They went to see what happened with the neighbor. They saw Stefan. He was lying dead - the policewoman recalls. Determining the brothers' identity was difficult because there were no witnesses of the beating, and Stefan took the secret to the grave.

They did not have the strength to throw the body into the river because they were drunk. Thanks to this, they fell in

After the murder, brothers Witek and Roman were hiding for several days in a tent they pitched by the San River. 19-year-old Marzena lived with them in this tent. She was Witek's girlfriend. She got involved with him, even though she knew he was in a detective story.

- While sitting in the tent, the three of us drank vodka, but the carefree mood was suddenly interrupted by Marzena, because she said: "I have you in my hand! I know what happened the day before yesterday and how Dzik died" - says the policewoman. Witek and his brother fell into a rage and started beating the girl. And they beat them to kill, not just to scare.

Photo: Private archive of the interviewee Anna Zielińska-Brudek

- When Marzena stopped showing signs of life, they tied her body with a rope from the tent, and tightened a noose around the neck of a dying woman. They were supposed to throw the body into the river, but they did not have the strength, they were too drunk, so they covered it with a layer of earth. Not very fat, so the body of a woman in a state of decomposition was found a week later by children who came to play by the river - says Anna Zielińska-Brudek. The doctor said the woman was probably dead for six days.

The recidivist left ahead of time. Of the 25 he served 18 years

The murderer's brothers were still in hiding - Witek in his friend's apartment. Roman hid at another friend's. Witek was the first to come. According to the local militia at the end of August, "36-year-old Witold R. was arrested". Roman, Witek's brother, the policemen caught up with him two days later. They both stood before the Provincial Court in Tarnobrzeg, based in Sandomierz. In March 1992, the brothers were sentenced to 25 years in prison for the fatal beating of a 47-year-old and for the murder of a 19-year-old girl. Witold R. left prison after 18 years, his brother a year later.

Prison did not change Witek for the better. It was buzzing in Stalowa Wola that the murderer had left the prison before his time. Soon he was committing crimes again, incl. attacked the shop and threatened the saleswoman with a knife.

Two months later Witold R., a recidivist, was imprisoned for eight years. However, he did not manage to serve his sentence, because two years later - in 2012, he died in prison.

This time the inhabitants could stop being afraid of Witek once and for all. However, the murderer's younger brother, Roman, was not heard of. To this day, it is not known if he lives, and if so, where. The man fell like a stone into the water.

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