The murder of a businessman from Sławków is back in the news. Prosecutors and family are refusing to budge.

It was a high-profile case in Silesia. It's worth recalling that Jacek S. (†57), a respected owner of a company in Sławków that regenerated mechanical parts, disappeared on May 15, 2017. Ilona S., his wife, claimed he had gone to a business meeting in Istebna. Unfortunately, this lead led nowhere. A breakthrough came only in July 2017. In Włocławek, a hunter found a body in the forest. It was wrapped in plastic. Expensive glasses, identical to those worn by Jacek S., were found with it. An autopsy confirmed that the businessman was the victim of homicide.

The prosecutor's office launched an investigation. Three years later, Ilona S. was imprisoned. "The evidence collected indicates that the victim was killed by his wife, Ilona S.," a spokeswoman for the District Prosecutor's Office in Katowice told "Fakt" at the time. Ilona S. was arrested in July 2020 and taken into custody.

The woman never confessed to her husband's murder. After two years in jail, while Ilona S.'s trial was still ongoing, the court lifted her arrest. She posted 1 million złoty bail and was released. She was placed on supervised release, with the requirement to report to the police station.

On January 28th of this year, the trial concluded. Ilona S. was acquitted of murdering her husband. The court sentenced her to only two years in prison for inciting a witness to give false testimony. The judge reviewed every piece of circumstantial evidence presented in the trial. For example, he found no evidence that the wife had transported her husband's body to the Włocławek area.

"The prosecutor secured surveillance, but only from Sławków, not from others. Then we would have known whether Ilona S.'s car had taken the body to Włocławek or not," Judge Roman Kubiś of the District Court in Katowice explained the verdict. "The victim's phone never traveled outside his district of residence, and it hasn't been found to this day," the judge said.

The judge added that the prosecutor's office had not explained all the circumstances of the murder.

The prosecutor's office alleged that Ilona S. had removed the tiles from her home and urged the man who did it to deny it. Investigators believed this was an attempt to cover up the crime that allegedly occurred at the home. According to the prosecutor's office, this points to Ilona S. as the perpetrator. However, the court held that it did not. "During the examination at the scene, nothing, not a speck of dust, was found," added Judge Kubiś.

The first-instance court found that the frail, 50-kilogram woman would not have been capable of killing her husband. "If there are such doubts and the court is uncertain about her guilt, it cannot convict her of murder. Doubts are interpreted in favor of the accused," said Judge Roman Kubiś.

The prosecutor's office, which had demanded a 25-year prison sentence for Ilona S., announced an appeal in January. "We disagree with the court's findings regarding the main charge of murder. The motives presented by the court are unconvincing and presented in a selective manner, partially contradicting the evidence in the case files," prosecutor Paweł Stokowacki from the District Prosecutor's Office in Katowice told "Fakt" after the verdict was announced.

The victim's brother expressed a similar opinion, being so shocked by his sister-in-law's acquittal that he left the courtroom during the hearing. "The verdict is shocking and unjust," said Mr. Ryszard, the murdered businessman's brother.

All parties have already filed an appeal. The case will soon be heard by the Court of Appeal in Katowice. "The appeals by the prosecutor and the auxiliary prosecutor indicate that they are challenging the first-instance court's assessment of the evidence. According to the prosecutors, the circumstantial evidence that was supposed to indicate that the woman committed the murder was incorrectly assessed by the first-instance court. In this situation, both parties are requesting that the verdict be overturned and the case be remanded for retrial. An appeal has also been filed by the defense attorney, who is challenging his client's two-year prison sentence for giving false testimony," Judge Gwidon Jaworski, spokesman for the Court of Appeal in Katowice, told "Fakt."

It turns out that the accused was also refunded half of her bail. "The bail was reduced to half a million złoty. The ban on leaving the country was lifted, her passport was returned, and the supervision was changed to a more lenient one. Now Ilona S. is to report to the police station once a month," added Judge Jaworski.

This won't be an easy case. The court has already scheduled the first hearing for November 20th at 12:30 PM. Judge Wojciech Paluch, the same judge who previously released Ilona S. from custody after she paid a million-dollar bail, will preside over the case. "There's nothing unusual about this; it's normal procedure," adds Judge Jaworski.

Meanwhile, the family, which is an auxiliary prosecutor in the case, has serious concerns: "We are afraid of what impact this will have on the final decision of the appeal court," wonders the brother of the murdered businessman, Mr. Ryszard.

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Ilona S. was acquitted of the murder of her businessman husband from Sławków. The prosecutor's office and her family have filed an appeal.

After the first instance verdict, prosecutor Paweł Stokowacki announced an appeal.