A Polish LGBT couple is facing 10 years in jail after their starving and abused 4-year-old son was found wandering the streets with nothing but his shoes.
Julia Bilkiewicz, 27, and Patrycja Januszkiewicz, 29, were arrested after the naked baby, covered in scratches, bruises and bite marks, approached a local woman in Gliwice, south-west Poland, and asked her for a glass of water.
The concerned woman immediately took the boy, identified only as Ignacy Z, to a local police station where officers discovered he had managed to escape the house of horrors after enduring months of abuse.
After being taken to hospital, doctors also discovered that Ignacy suffered from a congenital bone disease that had left him partially disabled in one leg and required several months of surgery.
Prosecutor Karina Sprus explained: ‘The boy’s body had numerous injuries, including injuries to the left arm, chest, right cheek and an injury to the left eye socket.
Julia Bilkiewicz, 27, pictured with her baby son Ignacy.
Four-year-old Ignacy was found wandering the streets with only his shoes on in Gliwice, southwestern Poland.
Patrycja Januszkiewicz, 29, psychologically abused her partner’s son, prosecutors said
‘Patrycja J. physically and mentally abused her partner’s son, calling him abusive names, threatening to send him to an orphanage, punishing him by locking him in a cupboard for long periods of time, depriving him of food and drink, forbidding him to relieve himself, throwing him against a wall, pulling his ears, biting him, hitting him all over his body with her fists and a cable, and strangling and kicking him.’
She added that Ignacy’s biological mother, Bilkiewicz, “did not react to her partner’s behaviour and herself used verbal and physical violence against the child in the form of slaps and insults.”
According to local media, Bilkiewicz and Ignacy moved in with Januszkiewicz and their two young daughters in October 2023, after the two women began a relationship.
Neighbors often heard the couple fighting before they reconciled and declared their love.
A neighbour told the newspaper Fakt: ‘This Patrycja adored her daughters, but she abused Ignacy, her partner’s son.
‘She was a very cruel and loud woman.
‘Three weeks ago I heard these women fighting again, calling each other whores.
‘Patrycja beat Julia and begged her that she had nowhere to go.
Ignacy was taken to a local police station where officers discovered he had managed to escape the house of horrors after suffering months of abuse.
Julia Bilkiewicz, 27 (left) and Patrycja Januszkiewicz, 29 (right), were arrested after Ignacy was found on the street.
Four-year-old Ignacy was found wandering the streets with only his shoes on in Gliwice, southwestern Poland.
According to local media, Bilkiewicz and Ignacy moved in with Januszkiewicz (pictured) and their two young daughters in October 2023, after the two women began a relationship.
Ignacy’s biological mother, Bilkiewicz, “did not react to her partner’s behavior, prosecutors say”
‘Then they reconciled and confessed their love for each other, it was a very strange relationship.
‘Someone later said that little Ignacy was sitting on the basement stairs and was scared.’
Other neighbours admitted that they had occasionally heard a child screaming and crying, but had not called the police.
One neighbour told the newspaper Fakt: “Arguments, fights and shouting were the norm.”
Both women have been charged with child abuse with particular cruelty.
District prosecutor Katarzyna Preidl explained: “The investigation into this case has only been underway for a few days.”
‘There is a lot of information that needs to be verified.
“The most important thing is that the child is safe.”