Baby Magda case comes to court

4th January 2013

The tragic story of baby Magda returned to the news this week when prosecutors brought charges against the baby’s mother to court.

The case of Baby Magda gripped the nation in January of 2012 when her mother appealed for help in finding the six-month-old child after she claimed she had been attacked and the child kidnapped. A nationwide search involving thousands of people and huge media coverage was called off however when the mother, Katarzyna W, then confessed to the child having died in a tragic accident at home after which she had hidden the baby’s body near a river.

TVN reported this week that the District Prosecutor’s Office in Katowice, near to the town of Sosnowiec where Katarzyna W. had lived with baby Magda, has now charged the mother with murder, obstruction of justice and of falsifying evidence. Charges have only been brought against Katarzyna W. but if convicted she could face life in prison.

The case developed last year with investigators turning their attention to the mother when it became clear that the child had not in fact been kidnapped at all. Initial tests suggested that baby Magda had died from a blow to the head and it appeared that her mother would be charged with falsely reporting a crime, the creation of false evidence and possibly manslaughter.

Katarzyna W. disappeared from a flat in Lodz where she had been staying with her husband and a series of notes she had left suggested she might have planned to commit suicide. Having been found sitting on a wall near her home in Sosnowiec, Katarzyna W was initially charged in July with the murder of her daughter and remanded in custody. A decision by the courts to release her from custody in August then saw her go on the run before being detained in Bialystok in November and remanded once more.

In connected news, TVN reported this week that a member of the emergency services who attended the scene, when Katarzyna W. reported the initial attack on her and her daughter, had broken his silence and spoken to TTV.

Andrzej Badura told reporters that he and an accompanying doctor found Katarzyna W. on a pavement, conscious but on her knees. Leaving her in the care of a nurse, Mr. Badura and the doctor ran in different directions looking for the child. He also claimed that Katarzyna W.’s injuries did not support her claim that she had been attacked and pushed to the ground.

Detailed examinations of the evidence have since determined that baby Magda died from asphyxiation and the court case looks likely to begin as early as next week. The case is likely to take some time to be heard in full as the court expects to hear from 40 witnesses as well as having to examine 19 volumes of evidence.