His allleged victim travelled to a village near Glogow in western Poland to meet Mateusz J after connecting on a dating app, and was kept captive for several years
A woman claims she was held prisoner in a barn for more than four years after meeting a man dubbed who since been dubbed “Poland’s Josef Frizl” on a dating site.
Victim Malgorzata, connected with Mateusz J in 2019 and travelled to meet him in a village near Glogow in western Poland. She was then held against her will for more than four years in a disused barn where she was regularly raped and beaten.
During her hell she fell pregnant and was taken to hospital. Her baby was adopted but her nightmare continued until Mateusz, 25, dislocated her shoulder. She finally managed to alert staff at the hospital and her captor was taken into custody.
She told myGlogow : “He put a balaclava on me so I wouldn’t see where we lived when he took me to the hospital. The same when he took me out at night to wash up. Sometimes he would just spray me with a hose, but if I was obedient, I would get warm water.
“I did not meet his sexual expectations. And this happened very often recently. At that time, I was beaten and not given food. He only fed me better when I had no strength left, when my chest hurt. He was probably afraid that I would die.”
The victim’s cell was located close to neighbours who were left in shock at the torment happening close by. Prosecutors say she was denied access to hygiene products, a toilet, electricity or running water. On the few occasions she was taken outside, she was forced to wear a hood so she did not know where she was.
Mateusz was arrested and faces 25 years behind bars if found guilty of abuse and deprivation of liberty.
The case has chilling echoes to Josef Fritzl who was jailed in 2009 after it was found he kept his daughter captive in his basement for 24 years. Fritzl had imprisoned his daughter Elisabeth in a hidden room under his home from 1984 to 2008, over which years he raped her thousands of times and had seven children with her. Elisabeth Fritzl, who was starved of sunlight, fresh air, and outside interaction at a tiny home in Amstetten, Austria, was given a new identity when her father’s crimes were discovered.
The eldest of Josef and his daughter’s seven children, Kerstin, was born on August 30, 1988. Stefan followed on February 1, 1990, Lisa on August 29, 1992, and Monika arrived on February 26, 1994. On April 28, 1996, Elisabeth gave birth to twins – but one of them, Michael, died aged just three days old. He developed breathing difficulties after being born in the cellar, and Fritzl later admitted to burning the newborn’s body in an incinerator in his back garden. He denied he was responsible for the death during his trial.
