Teenager died after ‘torture’ by mother, court told

A TEENAGE boy was beaten with a bed slat, whipped with an extension cable and stabbed with a needle during a campaign of “torture” by his mother and her partner, prosecutors have said.

Sebastian Kalinowski died last August of an infection caused by “untreated complications of multiple rib fractures”, which allegedly came after weeks of “cruel assaults and abuse”.

Leeds Crown Court heard the 15-year-old had been in the UK for less than a year after moving from Poland to live with his mother Agnieszka Kalinowska, 35, and her long-term partner Andrzej Latoszewski, 36.

After the couple were arrested in connection with Sebastian’s death, police seized CCTV cameras from their house in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, which prosecutor Jason Pitter QC said had 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,” he told the court. Kalinowska and Latoszewski deny murder and alternative counts of manslaughter and causing or allowing the death of a child, as well as a charge of neglect.

Mr Pitter said both defendants will argue their treatment of Sebastian was “reasonable chastisement”. The court heard Sebastian came to Huddersfield in 2020, with teaching staff describing him as “a pleasant and well-mannered boy” who “was observed to be quiet and timid, and at times appeared sad”.

Jurors heard that from January 2021, “the disciplining of Sebastian became progressively harsh” and that he was “kept deliberately out of the way of others.” The trial continues.