Damian Rzeszowski: photo - Jersey police
Damian Rzeszowski had entered a plea of manslaughter by diminished responsibility in April, but the prosecution has rejected this, claiming that the defendant was not suffering from an “abnormality of the mind” when the killings took place.
The deaths occurred on 14 August 2011, at the flat that Rzeszowski shared with his wife, Izabela Rzeszowska, and children in St. Helier, the capital of Jersey.
Geoffrey Sharp, barrister for the prosecution, has told the court that Rzeszowski “has a history of violence and has been involved in somewhere between five to 10 fights since he moved to Jersey in 2005.”
The prosecution stated that the defendant's wife had admitted to having an affair, and that the marriage had been under considerable strain in the two months preceding the killings.
On 14 August 2011, the family returned from a trip to Poland, and planned to host a barbecue.
The prosecution noted that Mrs Rzeszowska went out to collect her Polish-born friend, Marta de la Haye, together with her five-year-old daughter, Julia de la Haye.
When the group returned, Mrs Rzeszowska allegedly found that her husband had also left the flat for a while, leaving their children unattended.
“His wife remonstrated with him about leaving two young children on their own,” the prosecution declared, “and from this point on he says he had an apparent blackout.”
According to the prosecution, about an hour and a half after the remonstration, and allegedly fuelled by whisky, Rzeszowski stabbed his father-in-law, Mr Marek Garstka, with a kitchen knife.
He then attacked the three children, all of whom were below the age of six, before turning on the two women.
Witnesses have stated that they attempted to intervene when Rzeszowski ran out into the street to stab his wife.
The defendant then turned the knife on himself, but the wounds were not significant enough to be fatal.
The trial continues. (nh)