After a nearly year-long trial and 25 sessions, a Gdańsk court has found Stefan Wilmont guilty of murdering Gdańsk Mayor Paweł Adamowicz back in 2019, and sentenced him to life in prison. Justifying the verdict, the judge said that the defendant had "committed a crime without precendence in Poland's history". Due to an important public interest, the court allowed the publication of the defendant's full name and image. The ruling can still be appealed.
Stefan Wilmont has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering Gdańsk Mayor Paweł Adamowicz in January 2019. The Gdańsk court judge Aleksandra Kaczmarek said that Wilmont had "committed a crime without precendence in Poland's history".
The judge stressed that the murder had been committed before thousands of spectators during a large charity event.
The court allowed the publication of Stefan Wilmont's full name and image due to a public character of the crime and the public opinion's increased interest in the case. Wilmont himself demanded his information be published in full.
According to the ruling, Wilmont would be allowed to file for parole no sooner than after spending 40 years in solitary confinement. The court also said that he should serve his sentence in a therapeutic penitentiary unit.
Before the trial, it took the prosecutor's office in Gdańsk nearly three years to conduct the investigation into the case. Among the factors contributing to the length of the inquiry was the necessity to call up three separate teams of expert witnesses, who testified regarding the defendant's psychological fitness.
The murder took place on January 13, 2019, during the Grand Finale of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity held in Gdańsk. Not stopped by anyone, Wilmont rushed onto the stage and stabbed mayor Adamowicz several times with a knife. The mayor died the following day in hospital at the age of 53. He is survived by his wife and two young daughters.
"The memory of Paweł Adamowicz will remain, and I hope the memory of the killer will fade as soon as possible," said Paweł Adamowicz's wife, Magdalena.
The slain mayor's brother, Piotr Adamowicz, said after the ruling that nothing would bring back his brother's life. "It seems that time heals wounds. It's a common saying and there's plenty of truth to it, but please understand the family who suffered a huge tragedy and trauma in January 2019, and with each court session and inquiry, these tragic images that we witnessed - I spent practically the whole night at the intensive care unit - they haunt us and it really isn't easy," he said.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP