Monday, 28 July 2025

A local murder and church-state relations

Saturday morning and I'm scrolling through my Facebook feed. The local volunteer fire brigade (OSP Chynów) posted an intriguing story late on Friday about a curious and macabre incident that occurred the previous evening in Lasopole, less than two and half miles away.

The fire brigade had been called out to deal with a burning person on the road at 22:20 on Thursday 24 July in Lasopole. The fire engine from Chynów was joined by two more from Drwalew and another from Grójec. The emergency medical services, the police and the prosecutor's office were also on hand, but were unable to save the victim. whose body had 80% burns and several wounds to the head. [Photos from the fire brigade]. 

On Monday morning, I'm getting social-media alerts from friends about this incident – this is evidently  quite an extraordinary story.

It transpires that this was a murder. The perpetrator (who has since admitted to the killing) was a 60-year-old parish priest, who'd axed a 68-year-old homeless man in the skull before pouring petrol on him and setting him on fire. A local cyclist saw this from afar and managed to remember the registration number of an 'expensive terrain vehicle' that he saw driving away from the scene with its lights off. He reported it to the police who quickly tracked it down to the parish priest in Przypki, a village some 20km to the north-east of Lasopole. Because the priest possessed firearms as a huntsman, anti-terrorist police had to be deployed in the arrest. He has been arrested and charged with zabójstwo ze szczególnym okrucieństwem, 'murder with particular cruelty'.

Below: the crime scene. Note the stains on the asphalt and the votive candle on the roadside. Chilling. A thunderstorm is forecast for this evening; traces of this brutal event will likely be erased.

So – now the case is with the prosecutor's office. Initial investigations point to some real estate being involved, an apartment in Warsaw. Lots of ins lots of outs lots of what have yous. The story will no doubt run and run in the Polish media, and is certainly one to follow. If the priest ends up with a sentence that's considered too lenient, anticlerical sentiment may receive a boost. If details emerge of hidden wealth, shady real-estate deals etc, it will also not help the church's image in Poland either.

In the meanwhile, the case has gone viral. I get the following meme from Jacek L in London this morning. "The parish priest is already close, is knocking at my door..." Armed with an axe and petrol canister. [The text is from the controversial song 1992 by Paweł Kukiz and Piersi.]

Finally a reminder that 35 years have passed since the murder of Fr Tadeusz Stokowski and his housekeeper Marzanna Kubiak in nearby Michalczew. The murder remains unsolved.

This time last year:
A new cider season is underway

This time two years ago:
An eternity in Heaven?

This time three years ago:
Habit or obsession?

This time four years ago:

This time six years ago:


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