Victim, 94, devastated by Oldbury burglary
Burglars broke into the home of a virtually deaf 94-year-old woman while she lay in bed, a court was told.
The victim has been left 'wanting to die' since the raid.
Wolverhampton Crown Court heard yesterday that Polish immigrant Dariusz Wieckowski and another unnamed man broke into the property in Oldbury, where the victim had lived for 73 years. The pair turned off the burglar alarm and ripped out the phone line before escaping with jewellery, the court heard.
It is not known if she was awake when they struck on the night of January 26.
The woman's carer discovered the break- in the next morning and has since witnessed its devastating effect on her health, the court heard.
Prosecutor Mr Howard Searle said: "He said prior to the burglary she got around the house on her walking frame, displayed a sense of humour and was happy living alone at her home of 73 years.
"There has been a dramatic decline in her health since the break-in. She does not want to be there on her own and keeps telling her carer she wants to die." The woman became so dehydrated after not eating and drinking adequately that she was taken to hospital on February 5 and needed 10 days of treatment, the court heard.
Two days before that burglary, Marciv Sabiniarz, a 25-year-old friend of Wieckowski, 30, caused £2,000 worth of damage stealing electrical goods and new baby clothes from the home of a woman who was away from the address in Wolseley Road, West Bromwich, after giving birth.
He had an iron bar when both men were arrested after being spotted together in Bridge Street, Oldbury, at 11.50pm on January 28, two days after the elderly woman had been burgled. Wieckowski was linked to a break-in at a house in Phoenix Street, West Bromwich. Property found connected them to the burglary of a house in Bilhay Lane, West Bromwich, in December, next door to where they were living at the time, the court was told. Mr Wieckowski of no fixed address, admitted two burglaries and handling stolen property and was jailed for five years by Judge Nicholas Webb who told him: "This is a terrible story of an old person suffering the emotional damage which the invasion of her home of 73 years – a lifetime – brings."
Sabiniarz, of Birmingham Road, Oldbury admitted handling stolen goods and burgling the home of the woman who had recently given birth. He was sent to prison for three years.
