Yahoo News Man, 22, who stabbed housemate to death in drink-fuelled attack jailed for life
Watch: Man convicted of murdering housemate
A young man has been jailed for life for killing his housemate
Slawomir Kulesza was stabbed in the heart and slashed in the head
Police described it as an attack with a “horrific degree of violence”
A 22-year-old murderer who brutally stabbed his housemate to death has been jailed for life.
Arkadiusz Kaczmarek, of Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, attacked 47-year-old Slawomir Kulesza with a “horrific degree of violence”, using a kitchen knife to cut through his heart and slash the side of his head down to his brain, police said.
Kaczmarek was stopped by officers who saw him walking with bloodied clothes after the incident, but they discovered father-of-two Slawomir’s body upon returning Kaczmarek home and he was arrested.
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Despite claiming he was so drunk he couldn’t remember what happened, a jury found him guilty of murder at Chester Crown Court on 29 October and he was sentenced to a minimum of 19 years in prison on Friday.
Detective Inspector Kate Tomlinson, who led the investigation, said: “He subjected Slawomir to a horrific degree of violence, stabbing him with a kitchen knife multiple times, including through the side of his head into his brain and through his heart.
“It was a vicious and sustained assault and Kaczmarek then left Slawomir dead or dying on their kitchen floor as he went out to dispose of the knife.
“He took Slawomir’s phone with him, leaving the victim with no way of calling for help.”
Both men, of Polish descent, met when Kaczmarek moved in to the two-storey house in February.
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On 1 May, the night of the killing, the two bought a bottle of vodka together, and later a neighbour was woken by loud noises from their home at about 1am.
CCTV shows Kaczmarek waking along a road carrying the kitchen knife at 1.05am, and he disposed of it at the bottom of a metal fence he climbed over in an alleyway.
He then fell asleep in a front garden, but when confronted by the homeowner and passer-by he fled before two officers spotted him.
When speaking to him about the blood on this clothes, they found he spoke little English.
The officers used an online translator to find out where he lived, and Kaczmarek said he lived there with a friend who was asleep.
Officers went to check both men were OK but found Slawomir on his back in a pool of blood and began CPR. He died at 3.30am.
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Kaczmarek was arrested and a post-mortem found Slawomir died of multiple stab wounds. The knife was found by a member of the public on 3 May.
Kaczmarek did not answer questions in custody but DNA analysis showed the blood on his clothes and the recovered knife came from his housemate.
DI Tomlinson said: “Kaczmarek’s actions on the night of Friday 1 May were completely out of character.
“This was his first offence and it was committed after he had drunk an excessive amount of alcohol.
“Kaczmarek has always claimed that he was so drunk that he cannot remember what happened, so we may never know what led to him stabbing his housemate several times that night.
“Our thoughts are with the victim’s family and we hope that this case deters others from using knives and committing similar offences.”
Kaczmarek was also convicted of possession of a knife in a public place.
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