Appeals court upgrades sentence to life for husband who killed wife with hammer and staged train collision
A Polish appellate court on Monday sentenced Tomasz K. to life in prison, finding he murdered his 31-year-old wife with 11 hammer blows and then placed her body in a car on a railway crossing to simulate a fatal collision.
The murder
On 10 January 2024, Tomasz K. entered his estranged wife's beauty salon in Kiełpin, Kashubia, after she had seen off her last client. He attacked 31-year-old Jolanta with a hammer, striking her 11 times with the handle. She died at the scene.
Staging the accident
He then carried her body to his Škoda Fabia, placed it in the boot, and drove four kilometres to an unguarded railway crossing in Mezowo. There he moved the body into the driver's seat and left the car on the tracks. Minutes later, a train from Kartuzy to Gdańsk Wrzeszcz struck the vehicle.
The investigation
Investigators grew suspicious when they found blood in the car boot and traces of blood in the salon. CCTV footage and DNA evidence pointed to murder, not an accident. Tomasz K. was arrested on 11 January 2024.
Not an hour goes by that I don't regret it.
First-instance trial
On 8 December 2025, the Gdańsk District Court found him guilty of murder, endangering land traffic safety, and criminal damage. It imposed a combined sentence of 26 years in prison and ordered him to pay compensation to the victim's family: 150,000 zł each to her parents, Danuta and Jerzy B., and 100,000 zł each to four other relatives.
Appeal and life sentence
Prosecutors and the family appealed, demanding life imprisonment. The Gdańsk Court of Appeal agreed. On Monday, 29 June 2026, it ruled that Tomasz K. had acted with premeditation and showed no remorse meriting leniency. The court replaced the 25‑year sentence for murder with life imprisonment and combined the remaining penalties into a single life term.
The court changed the appealed verdict by vacating the ruling on the aggregate penalty and, in point I, instead of a 25-year sentence of imprisonment, imposed a sentence of life imprisonment.
Family relieved
The defendant did not attend the hearing, but the victim's relatives were present. They wept as the verdict was read.
We feel relief, we can sleep peacefully, because we were afraid that if he got out he'd kill us and our children.
- Murder in Kiełpin and staging of train collision in Mezowo
- Arrest of Tomasz K.
- First-instance conviction — 26-year combined sentence
- Appellate ruling — life imprisonment
