Swansea woman Karolina Zurawska admits killing son, six
A woman has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of her six-year-old son.Alexander Zurawski was found at a property on Cwm Du Close in Gendros, Swansea, on 29 August 2024.Speaking through an interpreter at Swansea Crown Court, Karolina Zurawska, 41, also pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of her father Krzysztof Siwy.The court heard that she was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and therefore entered the pleas on the grounds of diminished responsibility. She was remanded in custody until her sentencing on 25 April.
Paying tribute to Alexander, his family said he was a "very kind child" who was always well behaved and "never naughty"."He loved playing with his little sister and playing with his dog, Daisy," they added."He was amazing [and] always helpful. Always eager to assist with cooking and cleaning."
They added he was "very clever and mature for his age" with a "great understanding of facts" and spoke both English and Polish.Alexander was a pupil at Whitestone Primary School in West Cross, Swansea, where head teacher Bethan Peterson said he was "popular among his peers"."He was an extremely loved and popular boy... with all who knew him," she said.She added he was a "delightful, determined little boy whose tenacity and positive demeanour ensured his success in all he undertook".Ms Peterson said Alexander would be "sadly missed" and the school community was "devastated" by the news of his death.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Spectator
3 hours ago
- Spectator
Has deporting illegals become illegal?
The circus around Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia – whose full name the New York Times likes to trot out as if citing an old-school English aristocrat – speaks volumes about the immigration battle roiling the US. Our friend Kilmar is what we fuddy-duddies insist on calling an illegal immigrant. The Salvadoran crossed clandestinely into the US in 2012. As for what he's done since, that depends on whom you ask. According to his GoFundMe page, Kilmar is a 'husband, union worker and father of a disabled five-year-old'. Left-wing media portray 'the Maryland man' – a tag akin to Axel Rudakubana's 'a Welshman' – as an industrious metalworker devoted to his family. His wife has rowed back on the temporary protective order she once requested, claiming she'd been over-cautious. Yet according to the Trump administration, Kilmar is a member of the notoriously violent street gang MS-13 who's derived his primary source of income from smuggling hundreds of illegals over the southern border for several years. Choose A or B. In 2019, Kilmar was arrested for loitering along with three other men, one a suspected MS-13 member. He was carrying marijuana, for which (of course) he wasn't charged. From his clothing, tattoos and, more persuasively, a 'past proven and reliable' confidential source who verified he was an active gang member using the moniker 'Chele', police adjudged that Kilmar was a gangbanger, for which (of course) he wasn't charged. He was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement – whose acronym, ICE, reinforces its rep as cold-hearted – which moved to deport him. Kilmar (of course) contested his removal. The immigration judge hearing Kilmar's case concurred that the defendant was indeed a gang member and deportable; the Salvadoran (of course) appealed the decision, which nevertheless was upheld. Kilmar (of course) then filed for asylum, as well as for a 'withholding of removal'. A subsequent immigration judge stayed his deportation to his home country, where his wellbeing might be endangered by local gangs. Now, you might suppose that putting yourself in the way of other famously rivalrous gangs would come with the territory when you join one yourself. Like, inter-gang violence seems a natural hazard of this line of work. But it's not only British immigration judges who are soft touches. Only mass round-ups and swift group trials could effectively address the millions of gate-crashers Kilmar (of course) remained in the US. In 2022, he was pulled over for speeding while driving eight other Hispanic men of uncertain immigration status in an SUV altered to add a third row of seats for extra passengers. The officers suspected human-trafficking; Kilmar's driving licence had expired; a run of his number plate through the database turned up a federal note on likely membership of MS-13. Yet when the patrolmen contacted the feds, ICE (of course) declined to pick him up. So Kilmar was (of course) released without charge. Even so, his claim that he was merely transporting construction workers between jobs did not, under investigation, hold up. Fast-forward to 2025 and why this otherwise obscure Salvadoran who is or is not a thug merits such a detailed lowdown. Meaning (of course) that this case has to do with Donald Trump – whose evil minions in March flew more than 230 purported criminals to a Salvadoran prison, including none other than Kilmar, whom ICE did finally pick up (no 'of course' there). The flights' timing was judicially dodgy. The planes did or didn't take off after a federal judge ruled that the flights could not proceed until the deportees were given the opportunity to challenge their removal. The administration appealed to the Supreme Court, which directed Trump to 'facilitate' Kilmar's return to the US. Because, remember, there was only one country to which he could not be deported because of that credulous 2019 decision: his own. Hence the Justice Department's acceptance that Kilmar's deportation was an 'administrative error'. During this proxy war with Trump, Democrats have pretended to hair-tear over poor Kilmar, mouldering away in a nasty foreign prison and deprived of due process. But the story I just laid out has due process, not to mention leniency or even dereliction on the part of the authorities, up the wazoo. Meanwhile, after slyly getting their jurisprudential ducks in a row, last week Trump and co finally got Kilmar flown back to the US, only to arrest him immediately for human-trafficking – with every intention of convicting the guy and then deporting him right back to El Salvador. What do we make of this farce? The American commentariat has focused on a potential showdown between Trump and the judiciary, claiming to fear a flat-out executive refusal to follow court orders but secretly rather hoping that Trump does defy the courts and thus reveals himself as an unconstitutional tyrant. I view this absurd tale through a different lens. All these trials and flights for a lone illegal alien are expensive. The amount of 'due process' the American justice system affords every single illegal makes deportation at any scale impossible. There isn't enough time and money and there aren't nearly enough judges to make any but a token gesture toward the mass deportation of illegals that Trump has promised. That amounts to a victory not just for Democrats but also for disorder. I'd assess the odds that Kilmar is a thug at about 90 per cent. But proving membership of unofficial allegiances in court is a bastard. If every individual deportation case must be adjudicated according to exacting evidentiary rules and appeal procedures, America's drastic, undemocratic demographic change will proceed inexorably. Only mass round-ups and swift group trials could effectively address the staggering ten million gate-crashers during the Biden administration alone. What are the chances of that? In New York at the weekend, ICE raids were impeded by LA-style crowds of righteously indignant protestors screaming: 'Let them go! Let them go!' The officers just doing their jobs looked beleaguered, tired, numb and pre-defeated. After all the ICE agents' thankless labours, what proportion of their detainees will still get to stay in the country in the end? I'll take another stab at 90 per cent.
Daily Mirror
9 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Al-Qaeda inspired student who stabbed Labour MP can be freed from prison
Roshonara Choudhry has been cleared for release by the Parole Board after being jailed for 15 years for trying to murder Labour minister Stephen Timms after being radicalised online A student who tried to murder Labour minister Stephen Timms after being radicalised online has been cleared for release from prison. Roshonara Choudhry, then 21, was jailed for life for a minimum of 15 years for stabbing Sir Stephen twice in the stomach in 2010. The attack on the now social security minister is thought to be the first al Qaida-inspired attempt to assassinate a politician on British soil. Mr Timms, 69, has revealed Choudhry had written to him several times from jail. In a previous interview, he explained: "In the third of them, she says she's sorry about what happened. " So we're in a restorative justice process which may lead to me meeting her before she's released. I'd welcome that." Weeks before the attack on May 14, 2010, Choudhry had quit her English degree course at King's College London, where she had been expected to get a first. She became radicalised after watching online sermons by terror preachers and decided to kill Sir Stephen because he supported the Iraq war. The student knifed her local MP as he held a constituency surgery at the Beckton Globe community centre in east London. Choudhry smiled and pretended she was going to shake hands with him before repeatedly plunging the blade into her victim. After she was arrested she told detectives the stabbing was "punishment" and "to get revenge for the people of Iraq". But after a Parole Board hearing last month, a panel decided she could be freed from jail. A decision summary said: "After considering the circumstances of her offending, the progress made while in custody and the evidence presented at the hearing and in the dossier, the panel was satisfied that imprisonment was no longer necessary for the protection of the public." The document said that at the time of the attempted murder, Choudhry, now 36, had risk factors of problems with family relationships, development of extreme beliefs and willingness to use violence to address perceived injustices. But she had engaged in programmes in prison to understand how her extreme beliefs developed and her conduct was described as "exemplary". The summary added: "Ms Choudhry was assessed as having shown a very high level of insight and understanding of herself. "She had consistently shown over many years that she no longer held the same beliefs, that she was able to manage her emotional wellbeing effectively and she would no longer be likely to be influenced by other people with strong negative views, having developed the ability to critically evaluate information and to seek help from professionals if she needs it." The document said the panel did not receive a victim impact statement, or representations from the justice secretary. It was recommended that Choudhry be released on licence under conditions such as living at a designated address, with a specific curfew and subject to an exclusion zone to avoid contact with Sir Stephen. A Parole Board spokesman said: "Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community. "Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority."
Press and Journal
10 hours ago
- Press and Journal
English drug dealer locked up for peddling cocaine in Aberdeen
An English drug dealer who operated as part of a gang to sell narcotics in Aberdeen has been caged for his part in the crime. Byron Smith appeared via video link at Peterhead Sheriff Court on Monday to be sentenced for supplying both cocaine and heroin in Aberdeen two years ago. He had lodged guilty pleas in May. The 22-year-old, whose address was given in court papers as HMP Grampian, will now spend the next 15 months behind bars. As part of the Ace syndicate, Smith operated out of a flat on Park Road in Aberdeen. Fiscal depute Jennifer Pritchard told the court that he came to the attention of officers on November 7 2023, when he was spotted entering the property. 'Conversation could be heard within the address,' she added. 'Entry was subsequently forced.' Within, officers uncovered 123 wraps of drugs and a rectangular container containing cocaine. In total, heroin worth £380 was recovered and cocaine to the tune of £1,700. Smith's defence agent, Leonard Burkinshaw, branded the crime a 'well-known tale in this area'. 'He was just 20 at the time of the offences,' he said. 'He was tasked to perform in this area, my lord. That is essentially the situation he found himself in.' Mr Burkinshaw added that his client was looking to 'start fresh and start a new life' following his conviction. Sentence on Smith had previously been deferred for background reports to give the court information on his suitability for work in the community. Referencing these, Sheriff Craig Findlater noted there was a 'history of failing to comply' with such orders. He added that Smith had already been jailed previously. Ordering him to be locked up for more than a year, Sheriff Findlater said: 'It speaks of a poor attitude on your part. 'You've travelled to Scotland in order to deal drugs. You have already received custodial sentences in Scotland and in England.'
