Polish prosecutors indict mother for abusing one-year-old son on video to coerce partner

Abuse allegations and court indictment

The District Prosecutor's Office in Lubań has forwarded a formal indictment to the District Court in Lubań against a resident aged 36 or 37 accused of mistreating her one-year-old son. Judicial authorities charged the woman with physical and psychological abuse carried out with particular cruelty against a minor dependent. The documented mistreatment took place inside her apartment in the Lower Silesian town of Lubań across an unspecified timeframe in 2025, continuing until 22 November 2025. Prosecutors established that the woman repeatedly subjected the infant to violent physical actions, including smothering him with a pillow and pulling him forcefully by his clothing and hair. According to case files presented by the regional prosecution, she also lifted the infant into the air by his arms to inflict added physical distress while yelling at him.

Video recordings sent to former partner

The defendant recorded instances of the physical and verbal abuse on her mobile telephone and transmitted the resulting video files to the child's father. Spokesperson Ewa Węglarowicz-Makowska from the District Prosecutor's Office in Jelenia Góra stated that the mother distributed the footage to exert pressure on her former partner and compel him to return to the relationship.

The woman abused her one-year-old son by smothering him with a pillow, pulled the child by his clothing and hair, grabbed him, lifted him up by his arms in order to cause him additional suffering, and also raised her voice at the child.

After viewing the video material sent to his phone, the boy's father immediately reported the abuse to local law enforcement authorities. Officers from the District Police Headquarters in Lubań located and arrested the woman on 22 November 2025.

Suspect testimony and psychiatric findings

Investigators questioned the woman regarding the videos recovered from the father's mobile phone, entering her formal responses into the case record. The defendant offered partial admissions regarding the conduct depicted in the recordings while attempting to downplay the severity of her actions.

The defendant partially admitted to committing the alleged act. She provided explanations claiming that in the video recording she pretended to suffocate her son with a pillow. As she stated, her actions toward the child stemmed from a desire to hurt her partner.

Due to concerns regarding her mental state, prosecutors ordered the defendant to undergo formal psychiatric observation during the investigation. Examining psychiatrists determined that the defendant is neither mentally ill nor intellectually disabled, though they formally diagnosed her with personality disorders, confirming her fitness to stand trial.

Detention, custody decisions and legal penalty

The defendant had lived in Lubań for approximately one year before her arrest, having previously resided in Kartuzy in northern Poland. Regional prosecutors noted that the prosecution office in Kartuzy is conducting a separate, ongoing proceeding against her concerning the alleged abuse of an older child. Social care and judicial bodies have formally stripped the woman of parental custody over her children. Court records show that she had no prior criminal convictions before the current case. Following her arrest, a court placed her into pre-trial detention on 23 November 2025, where she remains confined pending judicial proceedings. Under the Polish penal code, the charges of abuse with particular cruelty carry a statutory penalty ranging between 1 and 10 years of imprisonment.