For over six years, Judge Jakub K. from Bydgoszcz has first been a suspect and is now formally charged with the rape of a colleague from the court. A conviction has even been handed down, though it is not yet final. The victim is still awaiting justice. Meanwhile, Jakub K. has risen to the status of a local celebrity: he writes disturbing poetry, exhibits dark paintings, and takes part in local cultural events. In his “works,” he has also written about… rape and murder.
Jakub K., a judge of the District Court in Bydgoszcz, was charged with raping a fellow judge. The man, intoxicated, appeared at the victim’s home on the morning of June 3, 2019, and attacked her. He has been convicted by a non-final judgment. Despite this, he remains a judge—well paid at that—although for over six years he has not been working, as he has been suspended from his official duties.
The Judge as Artist
Jakub K. no longer appears in the courtroom but is instead building an artistic career. He has devoted himself to art: writing poems, exhibiting paintings, and, as if nothing had happened, participating in exhibition openings in Bydgoszcz and local cultural gatherings.
An invitation to his debut exhibition described his work as follows:
“In his works, he explores themes of struggling with obsessions, loneliness, and madness. They often take the form of multilayered, seemingly chaotic compositions, from which disturbing, demonic shapes emerge.”
His fascination with the darker side of human nature is also reflected in the titles of his works. Already after being suspended from judicial duties, in June 2020, Occult Landscape could be purchased in an online gallery. In 2021, Temptation on a Very High Mountain received a distinction in a nationwide painting competition. Both works illustrate this article.
Some of his poems—written over 20 years ago, before he became a judge—can also be found online. Their content is shocking, particularly in the context of the acts he is now accused of. One poem, Knife in the Buttonhole, published in 2002, appears especially alarming today, following the first-instance verdict.
It describes a morning intrusion into a married couple’s home, interrupting their breakfast and committing a double murder:
shall I bring you toast or eggs?
a pleasant start to the day
yet suddenly a dreadful surprise
for there I stand in the doorway
in my buttonhole a butcher’s knife
the bloody spectacle begins
the man already lies with a hole in his gut
and the woman cries out loud — no!
soon her scream is cut short
and beside her husband she takes her place
a precise slash across the throat
and a second blow — straight to the heart
now I move into the kitchen
I drink the compote, I eat the toast
believe me or not as you wish
I adore such surprises
I am cruel, wicked like a snake
I kill to walk away into the distance
petty bourgeois cattle I keep butchering
with the cold steel of my poetry
so beware of me
for you do not know if
as you sink into half-sleep
I am not already at your door
to wake you with my knife
He Described Rape
In another text, this time written as poetic prose, Judge K. depicts a demoralized teenager who rapes his younger sister:
“I am the youngest—say those two black wells—terrorized by my father, unloved by my mother, mocked by my brothers. All I have left is my poor little sister; the money is for her. For cookies. She almost believes the whole story, perhaps because it could happen, or perhaps because he feels guilty toward his real sister, whom, ever since he discovered sex last summer, he abuses every evening in every way he knows, and on weekends offers her to older friends for beer and cigarettes. In a way, he really does intend to buy her cookies. (…) His entire scoliotic figure now expresses only one feeling—certainty of victory. Only a small stream of saliva escaping from the corner of his mouth betrays the effort he puts into concentrating on delivering precise blows. He clenches his teeth tightly. You can see that he enjoys inflicting pain. He does not realize how often that very grimace is the central motif of his sister’s nightmares. I think that even if he knew, it would not make much difference to him.”
In the poem Culture, K. also shocks. Here is an excerpt:
And in the streets, in churches, in bars
shopping malls, offices, barracks
simply, everywhere it can be done
let universal copulation go on
In his poetry, K. also repeatedly expresses hostility toward other people. In the poem I Don’t Like Riding the Tram:
This whole bourgeois zoo
trampling on your shoes
breathing straight into your face
digging elbows into your ribs
a stinking mass pressing at the doors
half a kilometer before the stop
no connection whatsoever
we belong to different species
I feel it clearly
as I ride like this
and sketch in my mind
the darkest apocalypses
More details on this case can be found in the weekly Gazeta Polska.