DERBY HEROIN ADDICT JAILED FOR KILLING 100-YEAR-OLD WOMAN DURING ROBBERY
A mugger who killed a 100-year-old widow in a handbag robbery has been jailed for 15 years.Zofija Kaczan suffered a broken neck in the attack and died of pneumonia brought on by her injuries on 6 June.
Artur Waszkiewicz, 40, preyed on her as she was walking to church near her home in Normanton, Derby.
Judge Nicholas Dean QC described Waszkiewicz as a "cowardly petty criminal" whose dangerous attack had led to "awful consequences." Zofija Kaczan, a survivor of Nazi concentration camps, was robbed near her residence in Empress Road on 28 May 2018.
Heroin addict Waszkiewicz denied manslaughter and robbery but was found guilty on Wednesday.
The judge handed him 15 years for manslaughter and seven for robbery, which are to be served concurrently.
Waszkiewicz has a history of 24 previous convictions for 51 offences, including battery in 2014.
His defense argued he was "not a monster," but Judge Dean responded: "What he is, is a cowardly petty criminal.
What he did was dangerous.
What he did led to awful, awful consequences." During the trial, Waszkiewicz demonstrated arrogance and justified his actions as opportunistic and driven by his heroin addiction, according to the judge.
On the day of the attack, he needed an "easy target" to steal from so he could meet a drug dealer and buy heroin.
After spotting Mrs Kaczan, he knocked her to the ground, took her handbag, and left her bleeding in the street.
The judge noted the tragic irony that Mrs Kaczan, who had endured the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp and slave labor, lost her life because of this cowardly act by a petty criminal and heroin addict.
She had even forgiven her attacker, which was a testament to her good character.
Additionally, a receipt with Waszkiewicz's fingerprint was found in the stolen handbag, and CCTV footage captured his car at the scene.
Despite attempts to cover his tracks by cleaning his car and altering his appearance, police arrested him after spotting his car on CCTV and finding his fingerprint on the receipt.
Waszkiewicz was eventually found hiding under a bed at his mother's address in London.
