Pole sentenced in UK for rape wants retrial in Poland
PR dla Zagranicy
John Beauchamp
06.06.2011 11:51
Lawyers representing Jakub Tomczak, who was given two life sentences for the battery and rape of a woman in the UK’s south-western city of Exeter, want to appeal to the court in Poznan for a retrial.
Late in 2006, Jakub Tomczak brutally raped and assualted a 48-year-old woman who became wheelchair bound due to sustaning multiple injuries. She died four years after the attack, in April 2010.
In 2008, Tomczak was given a double life sentence from Exeter Crown Court, although the Pole was transferred to Poland to serve his sentence there as he had been handed over to British authorities thanks to a European Arrest Warrant.
In 2009, the Polish Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Tomczak’s lawyers to adjust the punishment.
However, under new regulations in the Polish Penal Code, Poles who are subject to court rulings abroad after having been handed over under the auspices of a European Arrest Warrant, may have their punishment exchanged for a domestic ruling.
The new law has meant that Tomczak’s lawyers are going to appeal once again for a Polish ruling for the rape, which would only carry a twelve year sentence.
“We are asking for a retrial and for the case to be taken up again by the Court in Poznan,” the accused’s lawyer, Mariusz Paplaczyk told Polish Radio in Poznan, where Tomczak is originally from. (jb)