‘My soul has been ripped apart’: Families confront double murderer Pawel Klosowski
The families of double murder victims Lukasz Klosowski and Chelsea Ireland have told the killer of their grief and devastation, as chilling new details of the shooting are revealed.
Police & Courts
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The families of murder victims Lukasz Klosowski and Chelsea Ireland have described their insurmountable grief at their cruel and evil murders as more details emerge.
Statements in court today revealed their killer - Lukasz’s father Pawel Klosowski - was “fuelled by alcohol and anger” when he went downstairs at his Mt McIntyre home on August 22, 2020, unlocked his gun cabinet and shot his son and son’s girlfriend at close range.
Lukasz was shot first. Chelsea made it to the bathroom and had called triple-0 to alert authorities before she was shot at close range.
The families spoke of their grief and devastation today and almost all of them turned their backs and left the court when Klosowski stood to read his apology.
Kos Lesses, prosecuting, said an argument broke out between Lukasz and his father after a discussion about Lukasz moving out of his mother’s house.
He said the pair exchanged “angry and insulting” words which insulted Klosowski’s pride. Klosowski then “called out for his gun”, retrieved it from a locked safe and loaded two cartridges. He put a further six in his pocket before pursuing Lukasz.
“He fired a shot as he was going upstairs and at that point he was shooting at Lukasz,” Mr Lesses said.
A second shot struck Lukasz.
Chelsea had run into the bathroom, locking the door. She dialled triple-0 but Klosowski had reloaded the gun and fired again into the bathroom.
Both Chelsea and Lukasz were just a metre from Klosowski when they were executed.
Mr Lesses said after the “deliberate and purposeful” murders, Klosowski went downstairs to his wife and said: “I think I shot my son. Can you go and have a look?”
Mr Lesses said Klosowski had a blood alcohol level of 0.22 at about the time of the murders.
Magda Pearce, Lukasz’s mother, said despite years of ridicule and bullying at the hands of his father, Lukasz had forgiven and trusted him.
Mrs Pearce told Klosowski he had executed the best part of himself and asked the court to impose the highest sentence possible.
She told Klosowski he no longer had a right to call himself Lukasz’s father.
“You executed the best part of yourself and all that remains is the cold memory of the callous act that will confine you within four small walls probably for the rest of your life.
“Your legacy is of evil, defined by the sadistic and selfish act for which you must pay the price. Your heart is cold and your memory is tarnished.”
She said the greatest grief for any parent was laying their treasured child to rest – but in her case it was compounded by the knowledge “the man who helped create that precious child with me is was also the one who took his life”.
She described her son as “kind, generous, funny, creative, loyal, brilliant and so so incredibly young and hopeful”.
“Lukasz was an incredible son, an amazing and caring brother and the best friend you could ever ask for,” she said.
“Nothing and no-one can ever take his place or fill the void.
“My grief and loss is epic in its proportion.”
More than 60 family and friends filled the public gallery of the largest Supreme Court courtroom to hear the harrowing victim impact tatements, 15 of which were to be read to the court.
The couple’s families refused to forgive Klosowski and asked the court to impose the harshest sentence possible.
Chelsea’s father Greg stood beside a framed photo of Lukasz and his daughter as he delivered a victim impact statement in the Supreme Court.
He described the harrowing night two police constables came knocking on his door last August as “every parent’s darkest nightmare”.
“My daughter has been murdered. Her best friend has been stolen,” he said.
My heart has been shattered, my soul has been ripped apart,” he said.
“Her last moments knowing she was going to be shot must have been horrendous beyond imagination.”
Chelsea’s mother, Debra, described the senseless loss of her daughter as excruciating.
“The grief is eroding us bit by bit,” she said.
“She has left a gaping hole in a lot of people’s lives.”
She said she could only imagine the horror of what her daughter endured on the night.
“The image of her final minutes haunts me and it will do so until the day I die,” she said.
Mrs Ireland said she felt she had been sentenced to a nightmare.
“My hope is that when you are sentenced that justice will be as harsh for you and you will never recover either.”
MAGDA PEARCE: ‘I JUST WANT ONE MORE HUG’
Ms Pearce, with Chelsea’s sister Maddie, also sat down with SAFM breakfast host Rebecca Morse to pay tribute to her son.
“I feel like the days are getting harder and harder the longer it’s been,” Ms Pearce told Morse in the interview.
“Every morning you wake up and think is this really our lives? Or is it a bad dream that I’m going to wake up one day from?
“We have got incredible support everywhere from everyone but I know that our lives will never be the same.
“We just miss them so much.”
She said she was “blessed” to have her son, Lukasz’s brother Ricky, 4, to keep her going.
She paid tribute to her son Lukasz.
“He was funny, he was cheeky, he was a very decent boy.
“He was so easy going and welcoming.
“He was the best hugger ever. You know those hugs he used to give you, I just miss them so much. I just want him to come through the door and just hug me. I just want more hug.”
PAWEL KLOSOWSKI’S APOLOGY
Almost everyone in the public gallery left the court as Klosowski stood to read an apology.
He tearfully said there was not a moment he did not regret his actions, but could not explain why he had done what he did.
“They were two wonderful young people... I killed them,” he said.
“I acted like a monster. The world would be a better place if I had shot myself instead.
“I can only say sorry for taking two beautiful lives and destroying the lives of so many others.
“I love Lukasz.”
Lukasz’s father shot the young couple at his rental property at 11.30pm on Saturday, August 22, 2020, following a family gathering.
Two of Klosowski’s three stepchildren witnessed the incident.
He will serve a mandatory life sentence, with a non-parole period to be set at sentencing.
THE IRELANDS: ‘SHE WAS GOING TO CHANGE THE WORLD’
Chelsea’s family, including sister Maddie, paid tribute to their environmentally-conscious, determined and passionate daughter and sister for the first time last year.
Mr Ireland said the family had not just lost a daughter and sister but a best friend.
“Chelsea was compassionate, strong, selfless and fearless and continues to make us proud every day,” he said.
Mrs Ireland said Chelsea’s passion for the environment was among the things she was most proud of.
“She was going to change the world with her recycling, reusing and saving the planet, and climate change and all of that,” she said.
“She had great plans.”
WILL PAWEL KLOSOWSKI RECEIVE A SENTENCING DISCOUNT?
Prosecutors had previously told the Supreme Court Klosowski should not get the full 40 per cent sentencing discount for pleading guilty.
Laws have since changed to ensure maximum discounts on early guilty pleas are capped at 25 per cent, following community outrage at the sentence handed to paedophile Hamzeh Bahrami last year.
Despite indecently assaulting a 10-year-old girl in a public toilet at a Blair Athol playground in April 2019, Bahrami secured a 40 per cent discount which made him eligible for parole in April 2022.
The Court of Criminal Appeal found Bahrami should not have been given the full discount, saying a 30 per cent discount was more appropriate.
Two years were added to his sentence.
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