A “MONSTROUS” man who kidnapped, bound, and buried his fiancée alive in Huddersfield woodland is facing jail.
After eight hours and five minutes’ deliberation a majority of 11 jurors found 26-year-old Marcin Kasprzak, of Penistone Road, Fenay Bridge, guilty of the heinous crime of attempted murder.
Co-defendant Patryk Borys, 18, of Rashcliffe Hill Road, Lockwood, was cleared of attempted murder, but has already admitted his part in the kidnap of Michelina Lewandowska.
Neither Kasprzak nor Borys displayed any visible emotion when they heard their fate.
But the mothers of both the Polish men broke down in tears in the public gallery.
During the high-profile case the jury has heard details of how Kasprzak subjected the mother of his child Miss Lewandowska to a harrowing attack and burial which she still relives over and over again in nightmares.
Kasprzak shot Miss Lewandowska in the neck with a Taser, bound and gagged her with parcel tape, bundled her into a cardboard box and buried her in a shallow grave near to Woodsome Hall golf course.
Prosecutor Jonathan Sharp told how Kasprzak had grown bored of Miss Lewandowska and thought the girls he saw down at the gym were much better looking.
So on May 28 this year he tried to get rid of her by attempting to kill her, in what was described as a “monstrous” act.
Mr Sharp said: “Kasprzak was abusing her as they did so, telling her how long he had hated her, that it would be better for her to go away and leave their son Jakub with him and his mother and that she would never see them again.
“They carried Michelina, sealed in the box, up the hill, placed her in the hole and then piled earth both around and on top of the box.”
Kasprzak placed a 40kg branch over the burial site and leaving her there, he and Borys then drove to Morrison’s supermarket in Waterloo where they used her bank card to withdraw £500 from the cash machine.
During the trial Miss Lewandowska told the jury how she had stayed quiet and listened and waited until he had gone before trying to escape.
She cut through her bonds using the engagement ring he had given her, and managed to rip through the cardboard box.
Miss Lewandowska, who is Polish and who spoke through an interpreter, said: “I thought about my ring, that I could take it off my finger and try to cut through the tape with it.
“I cut the tape from my legs with this ring. I put the ring back on my finger then I put my whole hand through the opening.”
Miss Lewandowska was buried in the ground for half an hour.
She said about 10cm of soil had been shovelled on top of the taped-up box and the large branch was a heavy weight on top.
As she struggled to breathe and break free through the earth she prayed to God to help her.
She said she was exhausted. And added: “I said to myself – keep going just for a moment. You will manage to get some help.
“I put the tape from my face on to my legs and I started to tear the box apart.
“I was focusing on the hole I had just made. I took my head out from the box through the hole and at that point the soil was getting in.”
The mother-of-one finally escaped and managed to stumble to the roadside where she flagged down passing motorist Dan Brockley, from Newsome, who helped her and alerted the police.
Kasprzak and Borys both admitted kidnap at a previous hearing. Kasprzak also admitted possessing a prohibited weapon.
Judge Peter Collier told them they will be sentenced on January 13 next year and ordered a pre-sentence report to be prepared on Borys.
SHE survived a terrifying attempt on her life.
But buried alive victim Michelina Lewandowska admitted last night she still has nightmares about her ordeal.
The woman buried in a cardboard coffin in woods in Huddersfield, after being bound and gagged, said: “I still have nightmares that Marcin will come back to find me and kill me.”
The mother of one, from Fenay Bridge, was speaking hours after her former lover Marcin Kasprzak was found guilty of attempting to murder her.
He had already admitted kidnap as had his young accomplice, Patryk Borys.
But a jury cleared Borys of the attempted murder charge.
The victim told how the man she thought loved her turned her life upside down.
Miss Lewandowska, 27, was stunned by a Taser gun, bound hand and foot and then buried alive in a cardboard coffin in woods at Woodsome.
The man who put her through the terrifying ordeal was her lover, Kasprzak, who was yesterday found guilty by a jury of her attempted murder.
Both men will be sentenced on January 13.
Speaking after the case, Miss Lewandowska – who has a three-year-old son Jakub with Kasprzak – said: “During my time inside my shallow grave where I was buried alive, I feared that my life was at an end and I was going to die.
“I prayed to God to help me to survive so that I could look after my young son. The thought of my son gave me the strength to fight my way out of the box and save myself.
“For many years I loved Marcin Kasprzak very much. But after his horrific attack upon me my feelings towards him have turned to hatred.
“I still have nightmares that Marcin will come back to find me and kill me. My only hope is that he can accept that what he did to me was very wrong.
“I really hope that no-one will ever experience what I went through on that day in May at the hands of a man whom I loved and trusted.”
She praised the help she had from West Yorkshire Police, especially family liaison officers Christine Freeman and Linda McFarlane.
She added: “I have no family in the United Kingdom but the police have cared for me better than I could ever have wished for and I would like to thank them most sincerely.”
Det Chief Insp Lisa Griffin, of West Yorkshire Police’s Homicide and Major Enquiry Team, said: “The victim in this terrifying ordeal demonstrated tremendous bravery and undoubtedly saved her own life by freeing herself from the box that Kasprzak had buried her in.
“Now that Kasprzak has been found guilty of attempting to murder her, I hope that this brave woman will be able to move on with her life.
“As soon as we were made aware of this crime, the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team and the Huddersfield CID began a thorough investigation into the circumstances and, assisted by the excellent work of our scenes of crime and forensic officers, were able to prove in court that this matter was no prank, but a serious and determined attempt to end a young mother’s life.
“Kasprzak has shown himself to have been an unpleasant intimidator of a vulnerable woman and I am pleased that he is now behind bars where he belongs.
“I would like to close by thanking the motorist who went to the victim’s aid by stopping for her and helping her to raise the alarm.”
Jonathan Sharp, who prosecuted the case on behalf of the CPS, said: “This was a heartless and calculated crime from which Michelina was extremely lucky to escape with her life.
“No-one involved in this prosecution could fail to have been impressed by Michelina’s bravery and determination, and we would like to take this opportunity to pay public tribute to the immense courage she has shown.
“Not only has Michelina survived her unimaginable ordeal, but she has also been determined throughout to see justice done.
“We were able to put special arrangements in place so that Michelina was able to give her evidence while screened from the defendants and had the assistance of an interpreter.
“It is in no small part due to her commitment to this prosecution, including her willingness to give evidence at some length in this trial, that we have been able to bring this case to a successful conclusion.
“The defendant (Marcin Kasprzak) has now been found guilty of attempted murder, and had pleaded guilty to kidnap, and he has pleaded guilty to possession of a prohibited weapon.
“We hope that this is some small comfort to Michelina, and that she may now be able to begin rebuilding her life.”
