Aftermath and Final Reflections

Hello there and welcome to Murder Most British. I'm Zach. And I'm Rachel. Hi, welcome back. Yeah Today we're heading to Staint Helier, Jersey where a summer Sunday in twenty eleven began with a family gathering a planned barbecue and visitors arriving at a small flat n Victoria Crescent Before the afternoon was over That small flat would become the scene of Jersey's deadliest modern crime Six people dead Three of them children and an island left in shock Hey, here we go again Yeah Welcome back. welcome back guys. After the slight interruption of sort of island hopping adventure through the islands of Great Britain to it Yes we are, yes, we are. We u The Henry Novt case last week and yeah, that was a real sad one. but As all cases They are sad. Yeah. This one's no exception. Yep, this one is pretty wild We're going off to Jersey like I said so. Yeah. Let's get into it. You ever been to Jersey? I haven't actually, I think my granddad did. Many, many years ago. M moons I think when the kids when my mum and and everybody was young they used to go up to Jersey. It was either that or Guernsey They sound the same to me. Jersey Gerny So yeah, I don't know. but probably Proably, who knows? Well, hey, before we begin, if you enjoy this episode, please give us a like, subscribe on YouTube, and follow the show. and leave us a five star rating. if you're listening to this in the audio for Um, and it, you know, it really genuinely helps us a lot It really kind of boostses up and helps us out in the algorithm and all that definitely gets us to other listeners to discover us. so It was be really helpful before we begin, this episode contains discussion of murder. Domestic violence, knife violence violence against children Mental illness, suicide and self harm. and distress and crime scene details. So some listeners may find this content distressing listener discretion is strongly advised So now, let's get to the story So On a summer Sunday in St. Helie or, Jersey It was still full of ordinary sound Music from a festival weekend, families in the streets Traffic moving through town U the sea somewhere beyond the buildings. In Victoria Crescent, a small flat sat among the terraces close enough to daily life that no one passing would have looked twice By late afternoon that ordinary street would be behind a cordon The names were not yet known Scale was not yet understood but across the island peopleeople were already beginning to hear as something terrible had happened Well Jersey is the kind of place people often picture from the edges. St Abin's Bay, marina lights, cliff paths, beaches and old granite lanes running inland from the sea It this close to France tied to Britain as a crown dependency with its own government It's got its own courts and identity But St. Helia is not just the postcard version of the island It is the working center. offices, shops. traffic flats above narrow streets port close by, the hospital just west of town and the parade sitting in the middle daily life. Well, and Victoria Crescent was part of that lived in Saint Helier The address sat off Upper Midvale Road cllose to the parade in only minutes from the Jersey General Hospital. So this was not some isolated place, miles away from help It was central. ordinary, the sort of place where if Something went wrong You would have I think help could get there pretty quickly. but it was also tucked away enough that the terrorists could feel secluded. Folded into the town without drawing attention to itself Tictorian Terrace divided into flats place peopleeople pass without thinking Okay, so the family living there had come to Jersey from Poland So please forgive me if I pronounce some of the names wrong. But Damen Z Sofsky Born in Novisonk Not sure if that's how you say it, which is in southern Poland In nineteen eighty, he was born He hadd done a brief spell in the army But his prospects at home were limited Jersey offered what a lot of people were looking for steady work, better wages and the chance to build something Isabella Zhovska. followed him to the island in two thousand four, and they married there in two thousand five. They had two children. Kinga who was five, and Casper who was two. From the outside, you could understand why people thought this was a family making it work Damian worked as a builder. Some people described him as hard working and a provider and a father who seemed devoted to his children And around them was a Polish community of about three thousand people on an island of fewer than one hundred thousand So this was not a family completely cut off. They had work, children, community, routine And all the things that can make a life look stable from the outside So that weekend, Stt Helia was near the end of a three day festival of Post food and music. Catholics were also marking the feast of Lady Oh here we Oh here we go. Yeah. I've got to try and say this. so Chen Stohoa well done, well done. I'm very good. Right Well we'll let Zach say that. Chen Chen Stove Hover the patron and Queen of Poland Now locals and visitors had been sharing songs, food and culture For many Polish families on the island, it should have been a weekend of connection for Damian and Isabella Things at home were already coming apart In June of twenty eleven, Isabella told him that she had been having a two month affair ot going to be something that he wants to be told. That's not something that you Yeah But I mean, I'll say this. att least she' being honest and saying and coming out with a saying, hey This is what's going on Yeah, very much think is probably the end of our relationship. It was end of time behind his back for longer and longer and It's not good Definitely not. but could have done it prior to going on your little weekend and you know, doing festival fun stuff and you're going to go and tell your partner that, you know Yeah, not good. Not good timing, but Well And that was not the only warning sign Damen had caught Isabella flirting with other men online. and she had told him She no longer loved him She had also threatened to take her own life Then when the affair came out Things obviously did not calm down after that They spiraled So Damen began drinking more He went out and had a one night stand of his own And in July, he tried to take his own life with an overdose. So yeah from the outside They may still have looked like an ordinary working family. behind closed doors This was really becoming volatile Well there was another pressure too, and it came down to where their future was supposed to be. So Damiian wanted the family to return to Poland He had been saving towards the house there and trying to build a life back home But Isabella loved jersey She loved how happy that the children were on the island And she could not imagine Riss Hurnin. permanently to Poland And that kind of disagreement is not just about Geography is about whose future the family is actually living in. Yeah, I mean, One of those things where it's got to be like, What's good for the kids? You know, the kids are happy, they're in school or whatever and they're thriving. It's like, do you want to disrupt that you know It's a hard decision to make because you know, you've got one person wanting to be one place and then you've got the other person wanting to be the other place But when there's kids involved, you know, it's so hard, you can't split them, you can't. you know what I mean? It's trying to figure out and compromise on what is the best. It's not the place for the children Becauseuse it is so far away. L it's not like you about well, you can have them on the weekends and whatever, you know's It's just not going work. but ye, obviously, you know, hash out the details on could do in order to make it work with one person being in one place It's going to be it's going to be diffic It's going to be putting pressure onto Damen because then he's going to be stuck somewhere because of his kids. Yeah Okay. Around the same time a property deal in Poland had gone badly wrong With thousands of pounds already paid and money still owed So now there was the affair drinking The suicide attempt. and the argument over Jersey or Poland And the pressure of money already sunk into that future Isabella did not want None of that explains what happened, but it does show how much strain was already sitting inside that marriage Before the final Sunday even began Well in an attempt to repair things, Damian and Isella traveled Poland to visit family On paper, it should have helped But With rootes, relatives, familiar places, it really should have done. kind of trip that might have given them space to breathe but the problems went with them. During that visit, Damian wentent to a prostitute. Wha Yes. buddy He who whoa, whoa, whoa. That's not how you repair a marriage. Exactly. That's what I was thinking, you know, it's not the right way to go and So whatever fragile peace the journey was supposed to create, It did not last On the fourteenth of August, they returned to Jersey, reaching Staint Helia around eight o'clock that morning after a punishing journey Well, Damian had been the only driver behind the wheel for more than twenty three hours. Oh, they've drove the whole way H Holy cow. Yeah. ye, I've been there. Mus a little ferry from, you know, they probably had a little ferry and then the rest of dri Yeah.. I did. I did New Mexico, the bottom of New Mexico to Tennessee and did twenty that was twenty four hours And then I did New Mexico to Michigan, which was like thirty four hours. U Good thing I was young Yeah doesn That's mad. don't do that. Obviously living in England, I've never drove that car in my life. so Well They got back to Victoria Crescent they were carrying more than just luggage They were there was children the exhaustion and all the unresolved damage from that trip But somehow the day still tried to act normal At around half past twelve, Isabella and her father, Merk, Gstka who was fifty six at the time left the flat to collect her friend, Marta Delajay and Marta's five year old daughter, Julia Well, a ma mattered here She was not just someone dropping by for a barbecue She and Isabella had become close in the way that young mothers often do through babysitting each other's children, shared routines. Nights at the cinema. and small escapes from work, home and children The plan was a barbecue at Victoria Crescent. now Stellaahay stayed at home with his older daughter and her friend after a sleepover So Marta and Julia went without him That left Damen at home with Kinga and Caspper. When Isabella returned The children were alone Damian had gone out Later, he would say he could not remember why he had even left. or how long he had even been away And you can understand why that would become sort of a flashpoint They had not only just got back from Poland Everyone was exhausted The marriage was already under enormous pressure And now Isabelle had come home to find the children by themselves He Dude, you can't do that. Yeah and five five. Remember why why you left the children unattended at home, you know Honestly Strange, man. C we go forout getting a prostitute Hm. Well, when Damien come back, Isabella confronted him, raised voices followed and at first, that was still what it looked like An argument inside a strain marriage On a Sunday when everyone was tired and the day had already gone wrong. This is the detail to hold ono There was a gap between That argument and what happened next So in that moment though, The visitors were there, the children were nearby And outside Victoria Crescent, St. Helia was still moving through a summer afternoon Okay, so At around a quarter to three, the attack began inside the flat By then, the barbecue was over And this is where the ordinary Sunday completely disappears Damian used two kitchen knives One was smaller in size to a bread knife though it did not have a serrated edge and had a point and had a pointed tip The other was larger and wider Probably a carving knife Meric Grka was laying down when Damian came at him He was stabbed nine times before he was even able to move a terrible stillness that suggests he had been taken completely by surprise. Well, one of the knives stayed lodged in Marrick's back. It had damaged his spinal cord, leaving him unable to walk he didn't die straight away Herrifically wounded. he had managed to crawl towards the hallway and towards the living room where the children were Well Later, when responders reached him faced an awful, awful calculation moveo him and risk catastrophic bleeding or Leave the weapon where it is and try to keep him alive. Yeah, ussually with, you know, something you know, a knife or something ins you want to keep it in Be if you pull it out, it's just gonna bleed all over the place. It's usually kind of like a stopper ing the bleeding and that But then how do you transport them carearefully, especially with it being in a spine such a horrific situation. You've got to be really careful to not dislodge it as you're trying to move him. Yeah. but I mean, personally, I probably would have just tried to move him You know there's pretty much have the any choice. Yeah. Yeah Well the violence then moved into the living room where Isabella had been with the children. Kinga and Julia had been painting pictures And Casper was probably sitting at the dining table with a toy car That is such an ordinary image, really Um, And honestly, that is what makes this next part so hard to process. These were not abstract victims in a crime scene report They were children in the middle of a Sunday afternoon Outside that room through the walls, and neighbor heard children screaming Not the sound of play, not children just being loud but something unmistakably wrong I mean just imagine, can you? What happened to the children was absolutely Herrific I There's no easy way, there's no way to make this part easy Um, And honestly There probably should not be Sa was stabbed five times in the chest And then eight more times in the back before he fell to the floor. Kinger Well was sts sixteen times. Three times in the chest and thirteen times in the back Julia was attacked in the living room, managed to move towards the whole way. and was attacked again So between them The three children were stabbed forty five times And forensic evidence has also showed wounds to their arms consistent with them trying to defend themselves It just They're just lit with the in Yeah. it's horrific. absolutely horrific. and with the injuries to the backs, you know, it suggests they're trying to escape and n't just a big attacker that can just overpower them. It's just God, absolutely horrendous Isabella was was attacked inside the flat, either in the living room or the hallway Later, a bloody palm print would be found on the wall near the living room door She had suffered fatal wounds to the chest, but for a short time, She could still move She ran through the hallway and into the bedrooms trying to get away and somehow made it into the bathroom. Well and this next datail is awful becausecause it just shows how desperate those final moments were Using Marrk's phone, Isabella tried to call for help But in the panic, she dialed nine hundred ninety seven. Polish emergency number instead of nine nine nine C did not connect the phone and fled from the flap. Outside in front of neighbourors, she was stabbed again Marta Delahjay also been attacked inside the flat and she'd staggered out before collapsing I can understand anybody Because in America it's nine and eleven You're just being in such a panic and you're just That's what you've know, That's what you've been drilled into you since you were young. That's that's the emergency number. Yeah, awful Um By By this point, the violence had spilled out of the flat and into the street Neighbors tried to intervene One witness described using a traffic cone to defend himself and others as Damen had come towards them. Another saw a woman lying on the pavement bleeding and Damian chasing another woman with a kitchen knife in his hand People shouted for him to stop This was happening in just minutes Everything was moving too fast for anyone nearby to control as a neighbour seeing the scenes and hearing the commotion and the It just horrendous. absolutely horrendous. Well Damiian then turned the knife on himself. He stabbed himself repeatedly in the chest suffered a claps lung and tried to cut his own wrists He fell to the ground, but then got back up into the house close the door In a matter of minutes, Victoria Crescent had spit into two scenes Four victims inside the flat and to outside So the first nine ninety nine calls were made at two fifty eight PM. Officers were sent to Upper Midvale Road after reports of a serious incident at the flat in Victoria Crescent Two ambulances arrived first Because the scene was so close to the ambulance station Several police vehicles followed And at Jersey General Hospital, the emergency department was closed to non urgent cases because staff We're about to receive the multiple victims from that same small flat This is a hard case to cover Um Inside the flap, responders were still trying to understand what they hadd walked into Th through the doorway into the lounge, one of them saw Caspar on the floor First, the question was almost instinctive. What was wrong with this baby? Then came the blood failed pulse check and the realization that There was nothing. that they could do to save them And first, Damian was not found as a suspect. He was found in a backroom. down and badly wounded And for a moment, he looked just like any other victim. Then he moved He was conscious. bleeding from wounds to his chest and wrist, So when he was asked his name He gave it And when asked whether anyone else was in the house, he indicated There were more people inside. I mean, on first, you know you would see that this man's still alive, he's got injuries you would automatically say Oh, maybe, you know You wouldn't expect him to be a suspect, but Yeah it was You don't know who the aggressor is Yeah at that moment Yeah But it was only then did the scene actually begin to make its terrible sense The man being treated as casualty might also be the man who had caused it Now Caspar and Marrick died at the scene Isabella, Marta and Kinger and Julia were taken to Jersey General Hospital where Staff tried to save them. So the police Cordon the horror into other homes too Some residents could not return while forensic work continued. And the authorities opened the town hall and a residential home so people had somewhere to go Victoria Crescent was no longer only just a crime scene. For the people living around it It had become a place They were temporarily shut out from waiting for answers that had not yet been gathered or detective superintendent Stewart Goull. had led the Suffolk Strangler investigation into the murders of five women back in Ipswich in two thousand six. So when he said The jersey scene had shaken the force that mattertered This was not some some one new to horrific cases Even with that experience behind him, he described Victoria Cresent. as traumatic for emergency services, police officers, paramedics. hospital staff and neighbours. Everyone who came close to that street was pulled into the shop Now one local man said paramedics were in tears. I don't And I don't doub to. Yeah. horrific. To see something like that, especially with kids and that Awesful Craig Delahay. The horror arrived first as absence. Marta and Julia should have been home by six at Jersey General Hospital Family liaison officers were trying to identify victims who had arrived without identification And as they worked One phone kept ringing Then messages began coming through Again and again, the same person was trying to reach it It was Craig looking for his wife and daughter. I mean, just trying him and trying him and you're like, what's going on? And you you probably know. Michel kind of generally or you know some people where they're like, oh, there's this, you know, police thing going on. or something You're just straightway worriry because you can't get hold of them. horrendous Well, among Jersey's Polish community, there was bewilderment as much as grief Monsignor, Nicholas Franz Catholic Dean of Jersey described the feeling on the island as a wound felt by a whole family in that place that small. The shock did not stay inside one street It moved through churches, homes, workplaces, and conversations people who knew the victims and by many who knew that something impossible had to happen So the scale of it was almost without precedent in recent island memory These were the first killings recorded in Jersey for seven years And now there were six victims in one afternoon And before official statements could fully catch up The first version of the story was already moving through phones. People near Victoria Crescent posted on Facebook and Twitter One warning told people simply to avoid the area The Polish festival was still running. And some people there did not know yet what had happened detail is chilling in its own quiet way, music, food and community continontuing in one part of St. Helia while grief was already spreading through another The festival continued until ten o'clock that night and Even as shock moved through the community Jose's Chief minister, Terry Lur I said that's funy, like like I'm French. So that like with a little French accent. Well He said that Ireland had been greatly shocked and that many people would need support and counselling in the days ahead So the response was not only forensic or legal It was communal An island trying to steady itself after violence that had torn through the idea of safety itself In the days that followed, grief gathered near Victoria Crescent Scores of floral tributes were left close to the scene. alongside children's cuddly toys and cards One message simply read, quote May the angels look after you now Well a charity appeal raised fifteen thousand pounds to help pay for the funerals uch a lovely thing to do. wow Dozens of mourners attended a Polish language service at the Catholic Church of our lady in Stt Martin By then, Victoria Crescent was no longer just an address become the place where an ordinary Sunday afternoon had broken open and where an island had been forced to gather around six names. Yeah, like we've said this before, it's it's such a good thing to see like the community come together and just and just wrap their arms around anyone that needs them you know that it always helps with that human connection and love from everybody. I definitely yeah, something like this, it would definitely touch everybody in the community. Anyways, steve First answers did not come from Damiian They not After the attack, he was still at Jersey Hospital under police guard, recovering from emergency surgery after turning the knife on himself Detectives knew where he had been found. They knew what had happened around him But for nearly two weeks, the only surviving person at the center of the horror at Victoria Crescent could not properly explain anything So while does Damien recovered? flat in the street to tell the story for the victims forensic officers moved room by room through the flat, following the blood the damage, the weapons and the path of the attack A detective spoke to witnesses who had only seen or heard pieces of it Specialists came in Devin and Cornwall while a home office pathologist was brought to the island Piece by piece now investigators began turning the violence of that afternoon into evidence. So then U on the twenty sixth of august of twenty eleven. Damian appeared at Jersey's Royal Court He was charged with six murders His wife, his two children, his father in law, his wife's friend and that friend's little girl He was thirty years old. time of the killings. He was remanded into custody And from that point, the case changed This was no longer about finding who had done it They had him. The question was whether this would be a murder trial. in the usual sense or something far more difficult Well, after his arrest Damian was treated at Broadmore Hospital in Berkshire I said it like Zackward. Barkkshire Listen. It's Berkshire. You know, so we go it's Berkshire.park. So it It has I a fr myself. It has an E in it is Barkhire Weird. Berkshire, Berkshire. To me it's Berkshire anyway So everybody here would know Oh he or hospital. We'll get it in the comments We will We most likely would. It's like when you called the when you say the man Craig. I say Craig, you say Craig. Craig. It sounds like you're saying Craig. Or like, u Bernard. Yeah Bernard U so anyways Let's get back to Prawar. So That is where everything began to shift towards one uncomfortable question was happening inside his mind? Because this was not going to be a trial, the defense simply said, He did not do it Damian admitted that he had killed all six victims So what came next was much harder. to untangle What did he remember? How depressed had he been Were there signs of psychosis and Could his later accounts of hearing voices help explain what happened Okay, so in April of twenty twelve, he appeared by video link at the Royal Court of Jersey He admitted killing all six victims But he did not admit murder Instead, he pled guilty to manslaughter through diminished responsibility And the crown said No They refused to accept those pleas, so the case had to go all the way to trial not because anyone was still searching for the killer Because the law had to decide what kind of killing This had been Well I mean, I've already made my mind out. What about you guys B you know I think yes, he was going through some, you know, with the marriage stress and whatnot, but It doesn't There wasn't to me. Nothing to suggest that he was You know, out of his mind. Yeah. we'll find out We shall see, let's go further and deeper into this case So that refusal changed the center of the case. Six people were dead Damian had killed them. And nobody was arguing about that. The fight was over The law should call it. Was it murder Or was Damian's mind so fractured that the court had to treat it as manslaughter instead And that is a grim question Because either way, The same six people Gone and in a bloody horrific tragic way. Yeah. Oh yeah So now they get to argue What's which way are they going to go? Because on the thirteenth of August of twenty twelve, The case moved into the royal court in Sain Helier and Damen Zashovsky sat before bailiff Sir Michael Burt Tw jurats Jersey's sim system is a little different from the mainland jury trial. The Jurats sit with the bailiff and they decide the facts. But Here, the facts were not just about what Damian had done They were about What was happening inside his mind when he did it? Yeah. I mean, assessment, you know It is a normal thing to be assessed for mental health just in case it is a Midgame factor but. you know, by this point Nobody was asking whether Damian had killed them He'd admitted that The trial was about what the law could call what he had done Now for the crown, this was a man who could not face the clapse of his marriage. and chose to destroy Isabella and the people closest to her For the defence, it was diminished responsibility deression psychiatric symptoms and A mind so impaired that murder was notught the right legal finding Well, Howard Sharp for the Crown built his case around motive Timing and control. So he argued that Damian could not face the prospect of a failed marriage and that the attack was not sudden blankness or one instant of madness One detail mattered especially gap between the argument and over the children being left alone. And the moment that the killings had began Weeks later, at Lemooy prrison, a police officer overheard Damian telling his mother that the barbecue had been long finished When it had happened, Frown, that suggested time had passed Not a flash Not one instant time H. Yeah which, you know, if it was done out of anger or like you've snapped becausecause you just lost your marbles, you know Yeah, usually like if you're going to have an argument should l at the moment. Yeah I'm gonna, you know, oh They argued and then it was done Yeah, so it's like he simmered and fested and, you know, it's that kind of where time had passed between the incident and Yeah That's when the cogs are turn in and you're thinking, oh yeah, or, you know, and like you said, you're just like simmering and stewing about it And it wasn't just a flash But the defense asked the court to see it differently. Julian Gollop argued that Damian was not a murderer in law because his responsibility had been substantially impaired Now That is a good cold legal phrase for a very difficult idea that someone could do something so horrific but still not be fully responsible for murder in the way that the law normally understands it Now the defense said that Damian had been suffering from moderate to severe depression with psychiatric symptoms that changed the legal meaning before he had done Well, the court had heard that Damian claimed he had blacked out after the row over leaving the children alone What he remembered came in fragments. the knife bits and pieces going behind his wife running after her He said he did not remember attacking the children and consultant psychiatrist, Dr. Hale Harrison had interviewed him five days after the killings and found no definitive symptoms of psychosis at that point Damian had been suffering from moderate to severe depression before the attacks. Harrison prescribed respirodrone probably got that wrong.irodone an antipsychotic along with tranquilizers and antidepressants Later after Damian returned to Jersey from the treatment at Broadmore Hospital, Harrison said that the picture had changed Now Damian was still hearing voices And those voices were linked to the stress he was under Damian later said that during the journey back from Poland, Voices had come from the car radio speaking in Polish. telling him he was a bad man and naming his children He said that they grew worse after the argument, warning that Isabella and Martya be raped and killed and that the children would be put on the barbecue Then when he went outside for a cigarette He said He heard the words Kill Crown challenged that account Damian had initially told docters that he had some memories of the attacks and had not been hearing voices For prosecutors, the later version looked as though he had shifted towards a psychiatric explanation. Sharp also called him a pressure cooker without a safety valve. pointing to a history of violence and an involvement in up to ten fights since moving to Jersey Well So he was already already ye fighting and got anger issues probably. Geez Well and then physical evidence pulled the courtroom back from theory to reality. The two kitchen knives were shown, along with three D images used to demonstrate the extent of the victim's injuries Now then came one of the quietest exhibits, a paint in The Children been working on shortly before they were killed the last ordinary thing that they had done When it was handed to the judge, fell silent. So Damian sat through the trial with his head bowed His eyes lowered or closed As the injuries were described He lowered his head even further. Reports described him as motionless and Emotionless Staring down at the floor and speaking only to ask a security guard for water. In psychiatric interview, he had said Everybody's gone. It is father in law, my wife My wife's friend and daughter It is me. I did that. So this was the question left in the room. Were Damien's symptoms enough to change murder into manslaughter After a ten day trial, the two jurats reached their decision Damiian was cleared Murder convicted on six counts of mananslor on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Oside court Detective superintendent Stewart Gold said it was not a day for vindication or celebration. But for sad reflection. Killings, he said, had left an indelible mark. Jersey's history Yeah Yp Cie Wild. I mean, You have all the psychatric stuff. He was probably going to head that way. U but for me, it's disappointing because I think he had He had his faculties in a sense. He was enraged. He didn't want He' to be separated from his family and all that K of a I don't know It's really tricky to try to understand the mindset H this individual, you know, they like they they argued And then there was time Time apart, T to reflect on their argument you know, and I personally, in my opinion, cannot see that Hey didn't know what he was doing h that's just my opinion. I would say would love to hear yours, but Yeah. Well, then comes the kicker the sentencing On the twenty ninth of October of twenty twelve Damian returned to court The prosecution called for thirty years. After five hours of legal argument The Jurant took two hours to consider the outcome for Michael Burt sentence him to thirty years. for each victim to run concurrently To make that clear It was not six times thirty It was thirty years sentence for all six killings. Wow L a life life that sentence is absolutely disgusting to be fair You know I am sorry, but I do believe that if you take a life, you're in jail for life. you should be, you know. and it doesn't matter whether it's diminished responsibilities or, you know, I'm very harsh in, you know, punishment. Um I think Well yeah it's just shocking. that to me, that's sense is Horrendous. No, thank you I That's were h for blunt. The horror and brutality of these killings is hard to believe He said Within a quarter of an hour or so, six people had their lives ruly sure at the hands of this defendant Even though this was manslaughter by diminished responsibility Rather than murder, the court was in no doubt Damen had intended to kill All six victims Burt also said that he still posed a risk of harm to anyone he was in a relationship with And that's where it kind of gets me like they know. They know. they're like, yeah, And yet Their hands are tied kind of by the by the judg because obviously with the jury they're going to come back with their their findings and, you know, as much as us sitting here now thinking, you know, God, you know, if I was on if I was cher at then on this case, man you would been you know, I'm strict like, you know. And then these people are like, o, you know, he's got some likeike psychiatric issues me. I don't care. I mean, I can understand like I'll okay, I'll play Dvils Advocate because you know I love to do that Yeah, you do, you know, you have someone who like has, um mental health like schizophrenia. you know, they're seeing seeing stuff and voices are telling them to, you know if they're not medicated or having some sort of therapy and medication Things can happen that this these things can happen somet O of course, but I get that. And that's where they were That's where they were going to Most people have been diagnosed with them conditions, you know quite quite, you know early teens or late teens, you know, they don't go on And it's like There's there's been a history of behaviours and things that you know, throughout their lives You they have a record of their illnesses Now you know, did this guy just all of a sudden or is there records of him previous there's a psychotic break. They it like you're so overloaded that you just your mind fractures. And that's where they were they went to And then after even afterwards, he's, you know, heads heads down and he's like I, you know, and I did that and, you know, he's he's not saying he didn't do it. Yeah. so you know, I do I do see where you're coming from hundred percent I you know and it does you're still brutal But I am still a brutal You know I black and white Just harsh sent. I love you in America. We're going to give the death penaly. you know, like I think yeah you want to bring them back old Sparky Bring back old Sparky and But not like your chair, no, I don't want that back in the UK. Hang in, maybe. No. Death penalty deeath penalty one hundred percent. She's She's gone straight to the medieval. Let's go Okay, so Well, outside courore, the families were left with legal answers, but not an ending Craig Delahjay said his life and the lives of families had been devastated. Every day was a struggle to continue, he said And yet it still felt like yesterday. He named each victim and said they would never be forgotten Isabella's mother brother and sister in law described what had happened as an enormous tragedy Yeah, I couldn't even imagine You know had I tragic people just gone Well Mara Delahe's mother put the grief into even simpler terms, knowing that she would never speak to or see her girls again. broke her heart Finding the strength to carry on each day without them, she said was a continuous struggle Every day she asked herself why, her question that no sentence, no court finding could ever properly answer So after Memorial services in Jersey, Grief traveled beyond the island Families in Poland were left carrying the same impossible loss while Jersey's Polish community mourned people who had built their lives far from home Marta and Julia Delahjay Mother and daughter were laid together in a white coffin which was due to be taken to Poland for burial They had gone together to visit friends on a summer Sunday and they were returned together. It was one of those details that just really stops you becausecause there is nothing to add It says enough. on its own But the case also left a mark on Jurseday's law Part is technical, but it does matter. The royal court believed a life sentence would have been appropriate. But because Damian had been convicted of manslaughter rather than murder It could not set a minimum term in the same way that it could for a mandatory life sentence. So instead He received a thirty year determinate sentence Yep, likeike I said, their hands were tied. They couldn't what they wanted to do they had to follow the law. The law is the law. There can't be no doing no jiggary pokery, you know, like Jiggary pokerry. Dy me Jersey moved to close that gap almost immediately By January of twenty thirteen, the Chief minister had instructed law officers to draft an amendment It was launched in June of twenty thirteen spepecifically because of attttorney General V Shhaavsk And its purpose was to require the court when imposing a discretionary life sentence to set a minimum period of imprisonment. In plain terms, the island was trying to make sure a case like this could not expose that same gap againgain Yeah, that Brilliant. Yeah. They were like, oh. No. Yeah, no. We're not doing that again. You just think, you know, okay, maybe if it was one person, but you've literally gone on a rampage, like You know, and it wasn't just like adults. they were innocent children, you know, and the the amount of times that they were stabbed. it's not like just once and ran off to somebody, you know, like you were Literally come on J room by room. Rabid Do you know what I mean? abbsolutely disgusting. Well Damian was sent to serve his sentence in the UK prison system In March of twenty eighteen, he was being held at HMP Full Sutton in East Yorkshire The question around his care had not gone away. U punishment ended and where treatment should have begun At the inquest His family in Poland said he should have been in a psychiatric hospital rather than a segregation unit The inquest heard that the Jersey sentencing judge had not had the power to send Damian directly to a secure hospital such as Broadmore or Ramppton Though he had hope to transfer be arranged once Damian entered the UK prison system But when Damiian reached full Sutton He was not referred to a secure hospital He was placed under psychiatric supervision inside the prison system itself By January of twenty eighteen, the warning signs had returned Damian was placed under closer supervision after self harm concerns and after an overdose of paracetamal and antidepressants When he later failed to comply with medication A psychiatrist decided he was showing signs of psychotic illness. The following month After damaging his cell, Damian was moved to segregation He spent forty five days down there before being returned to a standard wing Four days later on the thirty first of march of twenty eighteen. He took his own life. And he was thirty seven Damn I mean You know, he needed he needed help I mean And I think for me, he needed help so he could then serve his sentence Um Like other than that I know it sounds harsh. I know it's like, o, you know, but Yeah goosh. it's so hard to be like You know, it shouldn't happen that way. Well, I would question like how what How is he called Um, you know enough paracetamol and antipidepressants to try to take an overdose, you know, and not complying with medication. Okaykay, so have you gave them to him and he's just, you know Yeah I mean, you got here, takeake your stuff And they just like, no We just dropping down on in a complete take them You know, But where has he got enough to take for an overdose I mean, he could have been like, here's your, you know, you got a headache, hereere you go and saf he just takes it like hid somewhere This is where why is it' like you have to take them in front ofurity Scurity should be top notch high, you know, and you should be watched and taking your bills I don't know. that kind of frew me a little bit. I'm thinking, well How in the hell? if he's in segregation? How has he got enough pills, you know, but anyway Okay. So thirty seven. Yeah, only thirty seven. But medical staff had decided he should be referred to Broadmore twoo weeks before his death And the inquest heard that Formal referrals, usually it took two to three weeks. to action So by the time the system was moving, towards the hospital treatment There was almost no time left prrison and probation, a budsman later found failings in how his mental health self harm risk and time and segregation had been managed o Be be fair, I mean,'s forty five days in segregation. I think they do say that you should only have a maximum thirty four. It's like thirty days at the time, I do believe Is that I thought it was fane roim before your mental health starts to decline I do think it was fourteen days shouldn't be any longer than that Well, those failings included problems with prison, suicide and self harm process known as ACCT Conflicting records about his well being, no clear justification for keeping him in segregation for more oh more than thirty days. ye you were correct? Oh, yeah, yeah. I do a lot of the writing I like to learn the case as I'm reading it. A a cold read is what they call it, I believe you believe?. I no, I shouldn't it I should do that from now But anyway No mental health care plan for someone held there so long So the report also criticized the delay in calling an ambulance after he was found dead failure to use an interpreter when informing his family in Poland So the Ministry of Justice said it accepted the Ombudsman's recommendations But this is the point where the story could drift towards Damen's death shouldould not His death matters to the aftermath of everything and the failings around his care. Do matter. But the center of this case is still the six people. whose lives he took A Decade after the killings, Jersey police paid tribute to the victims again By name Isabella Kinger Mmeric Marta and Julia Kinger. just finished her first year at school Her classmates later created a garden outside the classroom in her memory blossom tray that bloomed. in what had been her favourite colour And that is where the case remains, not only in the royal courourt or in the prison records from full sudertain. or in the law books changed after the sentence It remains in the families who carried grief across languages, borders and years It remains in a school garden planted for Kinga, in the name still spoken And in Victoria Cresen itself a small street in S. Helier where the one summer Sunday left a wound Jersey could never quite close So that was the story of Let's go. So this is the Zyhovsky familyamily Killings. takeake over for you. D don't worry, but Arlen. Thank you. because like yeah, Oh my go. I't remember is it Cz like H. Wild. abbsolutely wild. C I I came across this and I was like, I can't belieelve just in such a short amount of time that he had just gone from person to person and just Under an hour. Yeah. just It's just and killed six people crazy It's absolutely tragic this case honestly like we don't like to cover many like children cases, do we? becausecause they are so hard tered And No child should lose their life, you know, and we do times find it really difficult to tell these stor stories, but They definitely need to be remembered and not for so much as What happened to them, but just to keep them in people's thoughts, you know? and. and pass on their story to a loved one you know Yeah, it's just so tough You know, and it's it's crazy that like How it ended you know, and and how he was able to escape in my opinion Well initially he pretty much did escape punishment because justice. You know he only been in jail for A few years. Yeah Yeah Mh hh. What you doing over there a cigarettes? Oh Lord Here she goes. I get hung out But yeah, noight it was that's that that was a really tragic hard case to tell and the We do appreciate you listening. Yeah. Thank you, thank you very, very much for listening and joining us and listening to this crazy case So if you'd like to support the work that we do here in the archive You can join us on Patreon for at three main episodes. Y we got jump on over. We got early access on there, exclusive bonus cases Q and A's, live streams, and access to our Discord community So Good stuff here From the first of June until the thirty first of July, we're running our summer foundounding members offer So for new members, they can enter the village crypt for just two pounds for the first month with code Crypt Check out C R Y P T Use that code at checkout and you'll get it for just two pounds for the first month. Yeah J in. You'll find Patreon Discord and our socials and everything else in the link tree below. so check it out Yeah, so if you enjoyed this episode please, well, I'm not sure enjoyed, but Enjoyed us telling you the story. Please like the video, suubbscribe on YouTube, follow the podcast wherever you're listening from and leave us a five star rating if you're listening on audio like on Apple or Was it Spotify? We're everywhere. everywhere Yeah, we're everywhere. The links literally all down below. There's so many places you can find us. so definitely It genuinely helps us out a lot and helps other people discover us as well and go tell people Tell your friends, family, strangers on the street, who knows? But until next week guys, stay safe and stay curious. Bye bye. And now We have our Ravens Council. So we have Ruby Tucker, nineteen fifty six player Extreme Cunge Whiskey forty five Kelly An Candy Thank you all for joining up and supporting us it's so it just really helps a lot makes us feel really good For sure. It helps us to keep going and yeah. and pushing more cases out there for you to listen to. So We do thank you for joining us Thank you very much. Take care