The middleclass student whose deadly obsession with Hannibal Lecter led to him hacking off a teacher’s head then stuffing her remains in a holdall as part of his chilling ‘self-improvement plan’
- Kajetan Poznanski, from Warsaw, Poland hacked off a teacher’s head in 2016
- He was jailed in 2021 after fleeing to Malta but is now appealing his life sentence
A convicted murderer obsessed with Hannibal Lecter has appealed against his life sentence after being found guilty of hacking off a teacher’s head and stuffing her body parts in a bag.
In a crime that sent shock waves across Poland, Kajetan Poznanski was jailed in 2021 after telling judges he murdered the woman as part of a ‘self-improvement plan’.
Now his lawyers are saying his sentence should be overturned.
Dubbed the ‘Hannibal of Zoliborz’ after the wealthy Warsaw district where he lived and his fascination with the fictional serial killer, in 2016 Poznanski went to the home of language teacher Katarzyna Jaroszyńska under the pretence of wanting to learn Italian.
In what prosecutors called a premeditated killing, once inside he pulled out a knife and launched a frenzied attack on the unsuspecting 30-year-old.
In a crime that sent shock waves across Poland, Kajetan Poznanski (pictured) was jailed in 2021 after telling judges he murdered the woman as part of a ‘self-improvement plan’
In 2016 Poznanski went to the home of a language teacher Katarzyna Jaroszyńska (pictured) under the pretence of wanting to learn Italian
Poznański being escorted by police onto an aeroplane after he was caught
Dismembering the woman’s body with a saw and putting the remains inside a suitcase he then ordered a taxi back to his rented apartment.
When the taxi driver asked him why blood was dripping out of the suitcase he is reported to have said that he was transporting the carcass of a wild boar.
Initially planning to eat the woman’s remains, when he arrived home the 27-year-old instead set the apartment on fire to hide the evidence.
The teacher’s body parts were found by firefighters called to put out the blaze.
Her head was found inside a backpack.
According to local media, Katarzyna had planned to fly to Bologna in Italy later that day to meet her boyfriend.
Originally from the Polish city of Radom, the experienced Italian language teacher had studied the history of art before moving to the Polish capital to study applied linguistics at the University of Warsaw.
The killer later justified the slaughter by saying he ‘had to kill someone to get rid of the belief that a human life was worth more than a pig or a fly’.
A high-flying student whose grandfather had been a respected journalist and whose parents were an architect and a prosecutor, Poznanski had been doing an internship at one of Poland’s biggest current affairs magazines.
Whilst there he pitched a number of articles about cannibalism.
One was called ‘Famous gourmets – between Rome and Hannibal Lecter’ in which he proposed to ‘expose my palate to the true classics of the culinary field’.
Another was titled ‘About Hannibal Lecter (21st century)’ where he asked: ‘What is the moral difference between eating a chicken and eating a human? None.’
In another under the heading ‘How to be a good carnivore?’ he wrote: ‘Lede: Hey carnivores! Shouldn’t we kill our dinner at least once in our lives to be morally compatible with each other?
‘We go to fancy shops and know nothing of the dirty work that was done before, and the vegetarians keep bringing out the heavy guns against us!’
In yet another named ‘A word on cannibalism’, he wrote: ‘The first season of “Hannibal” came to an end, but it did not leave me without valuable reflections. Namely: what is so wrong with eating human flesh?
‘Attention! Those who associate cannibalism only with wild tribes from Africa or other Papua are wrong. Europe has three words here! And I will justify them.’
Following his arrest, the magazine said: ‘We did not accept any of the proposals, and the trainee moved to another department, where he wrote two unaccepted texts.’
Poznanski then found work at a library in the same district where Katarzyna lived.
Whilst there he began writing poetry about killers he admired who had carried out premeditated murders.
In one poem entitled ‘Hannibal Lecter’s Feast’ he wrote: ‘Assembling here for the feast of the Holy Muse. My feasting of slaughter!’
Poznański was once listed by Europol in its ‘most wanted fugitives’ section, saying that he was wanted for ‘murder and grievous bodily injury’
Poznański dismembered the woman’s body and putting the remains inside a holdall, and then returned to his rented apartment and set it on fire to hide the evidence
Described by friends as being ‘social and intelligent’ one said that they noticed a change during his studies.
Talking to local media, the friend said: ‘He was was always carrying books and was always deep in thought. But he also came to parties.
‘But then he went weird and started talking about being possessed.’
Following the grizzly murder, the 27-year-old fled the capital.
First returning to his home town of Poznan, he then took a train to Berlin before getting on a flight to Bologna in Italy where his victim’s boyfriend lived.
According to a guide who showed him around the Italian city, he wanted to visit the Anatomical Theatre of the Archiginnasio where the dissection of humans and animals used to take place.
Putting out an international arrest warrant, Polish cops tracked him down to Malta 11 days later.
He was seized by armed police ‘in possession of a knife and several thousand euros in cash’.
Whilst being escorted to a plane, he attacked one of the policemen.
At trial his lawyers said the straight-A student who had a degree in classical philology and journalism had been of ‘limited sanity’.
But judges ruled that the murder had been ‘planned and calculated’.
Criminologists argued that Poznański had been planning the crime for a long time and that he had ‘probably been watching his victim, getting to know her habits and interests’.
During a pre-trial psychological examination, Poznanski attempted to strangle the remand centre’s psychologist.
As she got up to leave, he grabbed her by the neck and began throttling her before a guard stepped into help.
Poznanski then produced a piece of broken glass from his pocket and attacked the guard.
Classified as a dangerous prisoner, the head of remand centre’s forensic psychiatry team ordered for him to be ‘restrained by straight jacket’.
Referring to the murder of the teacher, forensic psychologist Teresa Gens told local media at the time: ‘In these types of crimes, there is never a single motive. Perhaps the leading motive was self-improvement, consisting in overcoming a certain taboo about deprivation of human life.
‘His friends said that at some point they noticed his transformation, both physical and mental. They mentioned that there were elements of isolation and a very strong identification with the figure of Hannibal Lecter can be seen in his literary works.
‘There are two options. One is that some fantasy world or idea has begun to develop that has arisen as a result of a personality disorder. The second possibility is that a psychotic process began to develop, culminating in this crime.
‘These are two very important directions that expert psychiatrists will certainly explore. This will have a very large impact on the assessment of his sanity.’
Psychologists eventually decided that Poznanski he did not have ‘a mental illness limiting the ability to control his behaviour.’
Prosecutor Przemysław Nowak said: ‘He was looking for a victim. He decided that it should be a stranger, that it should be a language teacher.
‘A complete accident decided that Katarzyna J. was the victim. He found her phone number on a website with advertisements for language tutoring.
‘The victim was completely accidental, they had never met before. They talked on the phone to arrange classes.’
Poznański was seized by armed police ‘in possession of a knife and several thousand euros in cash’
The teacher’s body parts were found by firefighters called to put out the blaze
Criminologist Brunon Holyst said: ‘He could have been obsessed with murder and wanted to transfer the crime from the ancient world to reality.
‘He is a man with two faces. On one hand, he is educated and intelligent, on the other hand, he was obsessed with murder.’
The court found him to be of sane mind when carrying out the killing.
Now his lawyers are appealing against the sentence and asking for it to be overturned.
Defence lawyer Piotr Dałkowski said: ‘The defence did not agree with this verdict.
‘We questioned it both in terms of determining the sanity and the amount of the penalty.’
He added that Poznanski ‘was in a state that precluded conscious decision-making at the time of the act.’
Judges reviewing the case are expected to reach a verdict next month.
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