14 DAY TRIAL // A court in the UK has convicted a man and a woman for starving and beating a four-year-old boy to death.
Daniel Pelka of Coventry was killed by a blow to the head. He was severely malnourished, would often take beatings, and he slept in a room with just one mattress in it.
Witnesses have described Pelkas as looking like a “concentration camp victim” and weighing less than a toddler, Daily Mail reports.
27-year-old mother Magdalena Luczak and stepfather Mariusz Krezolek, 34, have been convicted in the murder of the child. Luczak's occupation was not known, but it has emerged that she worked as a call girl in Poland.
She was also addicted to narcotics, as was her partner. Krezolek had a criminal record and outstanding warrants in Poland. The pair had traces of cannabis and amphetamines in their system when they were arrested.
A coronary investigation revealed that the child had 30 injuries on his small body, which was also bruised from head to toe. He spent the last hours of his life locked in his room, an unfurnished box room in the couple's house.
He was locked there upon coming home from school and he had no access to a bathroom, leaving his mattress soaked in urine.
His mother only called authorities hours after the child had died. The cause of death was established as a subdural hematoma.
During this time, Krezolek has researched car tires and has done online banking, according to browser records.
Teachers and child protection officials had raised concerns about the child's wellbeing before, but they were told that he suffered from a disease that led to him being hungry and looking under a normal weight.
He would search for food in garbage bins near the school or playground, but his mother told school officials that he is not to be fed because that would interfere with his medication.