Yahoo News Husband jailed for poisoning wife's coffee during 'ugly divorce'
A ‘despicable’ husband has been jailed for systematically poisoning his wife’s coffee over the course of four weeks, amidst an ‘ugly divorce’.
Brian Kozlowski will serve a 60 day sentence - which he will serve on the weekends in what has been described as a “slap in the face for the victim”.
The 46-year-old tried to kill his wife, Therese Kozlowski, by lacing her morning coffee with eight sleeping pills in a calculated plot once he realised that their marriage was over and that he’d “lost her”.
“I believe this was attempted murder’” she said in her plea to the court.
“Once Brian realised there was no getting me to stay in this unhealthy marriage, his goal was to eliminate me.”
The spiking took place when the couple’s divorce was pending in 2018.
Ms Kozlowski had cameras installed around their kitchen in the home, which they still shared, in Michigan after she grew suspicious of her husband.
The footage revealed that Mr Kozlowski poured diphenhydramine into her coffee on multiple occasions.
In an impact statement read out by the victim, Ms Kozlowski told the court how she in the mornings when she was driving to work, she struggled the urge to fall asleep at the wheel.
She said that one morning, she watched her husband from the landing as he microwaved what looked like a small shot glass.
She said: “I watched from the upstairs landing hoping I could see he was microwaving and saw what looked like a shot glass.
“When he left the room I ran downstairs and looked for this glass which I found behind the coffee pot.
“I quickly ran upstairs and pretended to be asleep as he walked into the bedroom and got dressed.
She described that when he went downstairs again, she “watched in horror” as he poured himself a cup of coffee before taking the substance in the shot glass, and poured it into the pot.
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She said: “He then swirled the coffee around, leaving the remainder of the coffee there for to consume.
“Over the next four weeks, I watched as Brian would perform the same routine each morning. I continued to bag my coffee up and keep it for evidence.
Ms Kowlowski found the pills that Brian was using to spike her coffee, and waited until the next morning until Brian performed his routine.
After she counted again, eight of the capsules Brian was using were missing.
According to prosecutors, "The last coffee that the defendant had made for the victim was analysed and contained 127 milliliters of Diphenhydramine."
After drinking her coffee, she said she felt tired, sick and had blurred vision.
The couple’s daughter also took a drink from the coffee but it is not known whether she felt any side effects.
Prosecutor Eric Smith said: “This defendant’s actions were despicable. We are all thankful this sneak attack didn’t cause the victim to fall asleep behind the wheel on her way to work killing herself and/or innocent drivers."
The criminal guidelines for the charged offence indicate that the defendant must do a minimum of 19 to 38 months in prison.
Smith continued:“This defendant deserves nothing less than a prison cell for his actions and that is what we will be stressing to Judge Viviano Thursday morning or we will be appealing the sentence, plain and simple,”
Mr Kozlowski pleaded no contest to the charge and apologised in court.
Judge Antonio Viviano in Macomb County Circuit Court said that the ex-husband does “have a sense of remorse” before handing him the two-month sentence.
Ms Kozlowski’s prosecutor called the sentence a “slap in the face” to the victim.
