EXCLUSIVE: Polish villagers insist ‘incest house of horror’ daughter is an innocent

Villagers are insisting that a young Polish woman accused of murdering her newborn babies from an incestuous relationship with her father is a victim of his depraved behaviour.

Many suggest that Paulina Gierasik, 20, should be treated compassionately due to her having been ‘groomed’ into having sex with her widowed father Piotr Gierasik.

The pair are being held in custody while prosecutors probe their relationship and the discovery of the remains of three babies in the basement of their isolated home in Czerniki in northern Poland.

But locals have begun to express feelings that cake shop production worker Paulina should be receiving help rather than condemnation.

They are also questioning reported claims that she was in a ‘consensual relationship’ with him for years, saying she must have been pressured into it.

Martyna Lewandowska-Tercjak who works as a waitress in the village of Stara Kiszewa where Paulina worked in cake shop, said: ‘I think she is a victim.

‘I don’t believe she should be in jail. She needs specialist psychiatric help after what her father put her through.

‘She was little more than a child, and he must have put pressure on her to accept such acts as being normal.

‘Her mother had died and she was left under her father’s control. It looks like she felt she had no choice.

‘You will have heard of Stockholm Syndrome. She must have known it was wrong when she gave birth, but her father ruled her life.

‘Everyone is saying in the Polish media that she is guilty of homicide, but she believed in her Dad. It was wrong, but she deserves sympathy.’

Martyna added: ‘My friend saw them out in the store buying perfume together. They would call each other ‘Honey’ and ‘Baby’ and say, ‘I love you’.

‘He was also seen slapping her bottom in the village. That would have just been normal for her having grown up with him.’

Adrienn Kotowicz also defended Paulina in a Facebook post, saying: ‘Must have been manipulated since childhood. Stockholm syndrome, mental disorder, trauma.’

Another woman Agnieszka Kroma added in the same thread: ‘Because maybe she was a victim and bullied?’

Piotr’s alleged relationship with Paulina was only exposed last week after her work colleagues became suspicious that she was covering up her latest pregnancy.

One colleague told social services that Paulina may have secretly given birth after she appeared visibly pregnant, despite trying to hide it by wearing baggy clothes, and then seemed to have lost weight when she returned from ‘holiday’.

The tip-off led to a social worker visiting Paulina and coaxing her into confessing what had happened after persuading her domineering father to leave the room.

Police found the bodies of two babies in the basement on Friday at the run-down home where Paulina lived with her father and 24-year-old mentally disabled brother while a third set of remains was recovered on Saturday.

One baby is said to have been born from Piotr’s rape of an older daughter while the last two came from an alleged consensual relationship with Paulina.

He has now been charged with three counts of murder, one count of incest with Paulina, and the rape of his older daughter.

Paulina was also charged last weekend with one count of incest and two counts of murder of her infants.

Prosecutors have been given permission to hold them in custody for three months, pending an investigation which could lead to them both being jailed for life if convicted.

Other outraged locals have taken to community media groups to describe Paulina as a victim of her abusive father.

Posting on local portal Zawsze Pomorze one commentator said: ‘Paulina should be provided with psychological care and not spend the rest of her life in prison!

‘She is a victim herself! ‘Piotr G. took care of his daughter Paulina (without her mother) since she was five-years-old.

‘She was dependent on him, he always had power over her. This young woman’s Stockholm Syndrome/love for her father made her want to get rid of incriminating evidence – children?

‘Was it her father-mate, her god, who suggested that something needed to be done with them? Why didn’t they use condoms?’

Another posting on the local commune’s Weekend FM website said: ‘Degenerates and killers, the daughter was probably brainwashed by constant rapes (sic) from childhood by a paedophile.

‘What is happening to these people to treat their own daughters like this?’

Yet another writing on the local koscierski.info website said: ‘To blame children who lived in a completely sick world created for them by their psychopathic father is simply sick.

‘After all, these kids don’t know any other world…! Please look at all this from a psychological point of view, and don’t put kids in a box.’

Piotr had 12 children with his late wife Hanna who died suddenly in 2008 at the age of 38, just a few years after the family moved from Gdansk to Czerniki.

MailOnline revealed yesterday how prosecutors missed five potential chances to stop Piotr’s reign of terror before the remains of three babies were found in his home.

He was quizzed by authorities on five separate occasions over the last 12 years about claims that he was having sex with his daughters and abusing his children.

But all the investigations were discontinued due to lack of evidence after he fiercely denied any wrong-doing and his daughters apparently refused to admit what had been happening.

Paulina’s brother Jakub Gierasik appeared to condemn his father when he became the first member of his family to comment on the shocking case.

He suggested that there was ‘no excuse’ for his father’s behaviour while making only a cryptic comment about his sister.

Jakub spoke in comments on his father’s Facebook page as angry people bombarded it with messages condemning his family.

In one post he said: ‘People should stop judging the rest of the family by their looks. This is not a book that you can tell the whole story about by the cover.

‘Those who don’t know how it was, please don’t write nonsense about the rest of the family.’

A woman replied: ‘And how it was? There is no excuse for Him.’, leading Jakub to respond: ‘For him, maybe not… But for an older daughter who is innocent?’

Paulina’s daughter is said to have lived for several days after being born around the end of August.

One of her colleagues is reported to have spotted text messages on her phone which listed her father’s name as ‘Piotr’ rather than ‘Dad’.

A message allegedly asked ‘how he was feeling’, referring to a third party, and the 54-year-old replied: ‘She cries all the time’, which suggested a conversation about a child.

Fakt newspaper reported that Pauina’s daughter was born at least three weeks ago, saying: ‘The little girl lived only a few more days. It is known that she cried a lot… She was murdered and her lifeless body was buried in the basement.’

Prosecutor spokesman Mariusz Duszyski said: ‘The woman is charged with two counts of child murder and a charge of incest.

‘The man was charged with three counts of child murder and two counts of incest.’

Comments defending Paulina emerged after it was revealed that her father posted a Facebook picture of her standing in a kitchen in 2019 with the caption ‘Hot girl to take’.

Meanwhile, villagers in the strongly Catholic community have expressed their worries about the babies being unnamed and unbaptised and where they will be buried.

Local mayor Marian Pick said: ‘The commune will probably take care of the children’s funeral, but arrangements have not been made yet, we suspect it will take some time.

‘The house in Czerniki is located in the parish of Stare Polaszki. The babies will probably be buried there.’

He added that they would probably not be buried next to their long suffering mother.