Profile of a killer: Mayor murderer was schizophrenic bank robber, say officials

While being in jail, Stefan W. was diagnosed as having schizophrenia. He was under constant medical control while serving a jail term for bank robberies, PAP has unofficially determined.

From 2013, Stefan W. served a five-an-a-half year prison term for armed bank robberies. According to PAP information, during that time, at the beginning of 2016, he spent about a month and a half in a psychiatric ward of a detention centre. He was diagnosed with having schizophrenia. According to doctors, there has been a remission of the disorder, i.e. a temporary resolution or inhibition of symptoms. Until the end of his stay in prison, until December 8, 2018, Stefan W. was under constant medical control.

According to information gathered by PAP, the penal detention centre in Gdańsk warned local police about the exact time of Stefan W.'s release from prison. The reason for this was, among others, the fact that the man who killed the president of Gdańsk had been treated psychiatrically while serving his prison sentence.

On Monday morning, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration Jaroslaw Zieliński mentioned the killer's psychiatric problems and called the perpetrator of the attack on Paweł Adamowicz a "madman." "According to what Gdańsk province police chief told me today, it appears that he also had some psychiatric disorders," said Zieliński. Such information was also provided by rmf24.pl.

Stefan W. had been convicted as a totally compis mentis person. In connection with alarming signals from the detainee, he underwent psychiatric tests when serving his term. He underwent pharmacological treatment. It would appear most likely that he was also obliged to continue treatment after completing his term.

As early as on Sunday, the director general of the Prison Service ordered an analysis of data in the service's possession and concerning Stefan W. Analysed, among others, is the course of treatment he received and his behaviour while serving the sentence. Stefan W. applied three times for early conditional release, each time his application was rejected.

According to information gained by PAP, the perpetrator of the attack, Stefan W. was detained in the summer of 2013 and sentenced to 5 years and 6 months in prison by the Gdańsk Regional Court in 2014. The pre-trial detention period was included in the term of penalty. He was also ordered to pay over PLN 30,000. The sum covered a court fine, court fees, compensation of damages and payment of PLN 5,000 in exemplary damages to each of the three bank employees who suffered from nervous disorders as an effect of the robberies.

Stefan W. was charged with four bank robberies conducted at the turn of May and June 2013. The man robbed three SKOK branches and a branch of the Credit Agricole bank in Gdańsk. He intimidated bank employees with weapons: in one case it was a gas gun, in three others an alarm gun loaded with blanks. During one of the robberies, the man fired at a ceiling.

Before being detained, he had never worked. He lived thanks to money from his father's inheritance and thanks to the help of his family. When he ran out of funds, he began to rob banks.

The amounts stolen by Stefan W. were not high: from PLN 2.5 thousand to PLN 6.8 thousand. As he said himself, he spent the money "on taxis, food and casinos." He also went on a trip to Warsaw, where he stayed in an exclusive hotel and on a short trip to the Canary Islands.

On Sunday evening, Paweł Adamowicz was attacked with a knife by 27-year-old Stefan W., who rushed a stage during a nation-wide WOŚP charity event. In a critical condition, the Gdańsk mayor was rushed to hospital where he underwent surgery. "The injuries were very serious, a serious heart injury, wounded diaphragm and intra-abdominal organ injuries," said Dr. Tomasz Stefaniak, the director of medical treatment at the University Clinical Centre in Gdansk.

Mayor Pawel Adamowicz died on Monday.