Neighbours in the northern Polish village of Czerniki had long had suspicions about Piotr Gierasik. The dad of 12 had raised his kids alone after his wife Hanna died 15 years ago, but screams were often heard coming from their ramshackle home, and there was something unnatural about his close relationship with daughter Paulina. However, nothing could have prepared the villagers for the aftermath when father and daughter were arrested last month. After social services tipped off the police, detailed reports of Gierasik’s monstrous life began to emerge.
Police believe his incestuous relationship with one daughter and the rape of another resulted in the births of at least three babies who were believed to have been killed soon after they were born, their bodies dumped in the cellar of the house of horrors.
THE SUSPECT:
Jobless Gierasik, 54, was alleged to have abused wife Hanna, who died aged 38 in 2008. He then raised their eight sons and four daughters. Known for his angry outbursts, he’d apparently faced five separate investigations over the past 12 years over allegations of incest with two of his daughters and abusing his other children. Following his arrest, daughter Kasia – who’d fled two years ago – told a reporter, “He is a monster, not a man.” Gierasik now faces a possible life sentence after being charged with murder, incest and rape.
SCENE OF ‘ABOMINATION’
At the time of the arrests, most of Gierasik’s children had left home and he lived there with Paulina and disabled son Damian, who was often seen sitting outside crying, telling locals he was beaten and chased out of the house whenever his father wan
