Andrzej Kunowski: The Little Doctor
Brief Jail Stay
At long last, Polish police caught up with him and returned him to jail. But his sexual assaults continued even there.
On Feb. 24, he forced a male cellmate to perform oral sex, then raped another cellmate on March 1.
It seemed remarkable enough that Polish authorities had failed to suspect and arrest Kunowski, a twice-convicted rapist, during his string of assaults. But the country's criminal justice incompetence was merely beginning.
Kunowski somehow escaped from Polish prison on April 25, 1979. Six weeks later, he raped a 13-year-old girl he followed home from school.
He was arrested the next day and returned to prison but escaped yet again that August. He committed more attacks before he was rearrested.
Finally, he faced justice for his long list of crimes, which included 17 sexual assaults and eight attempted rapes.
The prosecutor, Waldemar Smarzewski, sought a long sentence, recognizing that Kunowski had little chance of reform.
"There were about 70 charges, made up of rapes, attempted rapes, lechery with children, endangering a child's life and attempted murder," Smarzewski told the Daily Mail. "This was a very important and dangerous case because of the number of victims and what he did to them. I wanted to put him away for longer because he was very dangerous. I was sure that if he left prison, he would go back to rape and maybe even kill."
Kunowski was sentenced to a total of 30 years. Finally, it seemed that Polish women and children would be saved from him.
But revolution interceded.
When the Communist regime was routed in Poland in 1989, the opening of prison doors became fashionable.
Andrezej Kunowski was one of those who benefited. He was freed for good behavior in 1991, after serving less than six years for attacking 23 women and girls and two men.
After his release, Kunowski married and fathered a daughter. He found work as a cosmetics salesman, and he seemed to reform for most of a year.
But as always, his compulsion got the best of him.