Karol Kot

Case identification

Karol Kot (December 18, 1946 - May 16, 1968) was a Polish serial killer.

Status

Kot was sentenced to death on July 14, 1967. The sentence was carried out on May 16, 1968 by hanging.

Background

Kot spent his whole life in Kraków, the city where he was born and raised. Kot and his 8 years younger sister were looked after by their unemployed mother.

Kot passed the school-leaving examinations in high school. There was an unsuccessful attempt at getting accepted into a technical college of communication. Kot suffered from a nervous breakdown because of failing one of the subjects at college. Eventually, he became a student of the technical college of energetic, and he passed the school-leaving examinations.

Kot was a member of school organizations including ZMS, LOK and ORMO. He thrived in the shooting section in the “Cracovia” club.

Kot’s interests and inclinations were given away by his particular interest in every kind of weapon that could inflict pain and death on human beings. He was in possession of a substantial amount of knives. He studied human anatomy and enjoyed the taste of animal blood, as well as the act of killing the animals himself. He was versatile in the use of firearms and remained in close contact with the coach of his shooting section.

The coach of Kot’s shooting section sent a letter to the Ministry of Justice in protest against Kot’s detention.

The offence

Attacks and attempted murders

In September 1964, Karol Kot attacked for the first time. He stabbed an elderly woman in church by driving the knife from behind when she knelt down to pray. The woman survived.

The second attempted murder occurred on 23 September, when Kot spotted an old lady coming out of the tram. He followed her and stabbed her in the back when the time was right. This attack was unsuccessful.

Kot killed a person six days later, on 29 September. His victim was an old lady whom he spotted near the church and followed her to Jan Street, where he stabbed her to death. He drove a knife from behind and aimed at the heart.

On 13 February 1966, Kot stabbed to death an 11-year-old boy near Kościuszko Mound, where a toboggan contest for children took place.

In April 1966, Kot attempted a murder of an 8-year-old girl. He came to the tenement in Sobieskiego Street and noticed a girl who came downstairs to collect letters from the mailbox. He grabbed her and inflicted 8 stab wounds to the stomach, chest and back. When he escaped, the girl managed to go home and shortly after was taken to hospital, where the doctors managed to save her life.

Arson and poisoning

Kot was charged with 4 arsons.

Apart from stabbing attacks, Kot tried to kill people by poisoning. He bought some arsenic and went to a bar called “Przy Błoniach.” He ordered some beer and a jelly, took a bottle of vinegar from the counter and sat at the table. When he was certain that nobody was looking, he inserted some arsenic into the vinegar bottle, hoping that somebody would use it later on and get poisoned.

Kot also left bottles of beer or soda poisoned with arsenic in popular places, but nobody would ever drink them.

During the trial, expert witnesses stated that the amount of arsenic used by Kot was enough to kill anybody who would drink the beverage.

Investigation, arrest, and pre-trial details

Kot was arrested before his matura exam. He was allowed to write the examination in order to prove that he was sane and he would not plead insanity during the trial.

A lot of expert witnesses were appointed to find the cause of Kot’s psychopathic behaviour. They discovered that Kot showed strange inclinations since his early childhood.

During the summer, Kot would go to the slaughterhouse and watch the pigs being butchered. Watching and drinking the pig’s still warm blood was a source of pleasure for him. Kot soon started to kill animals himself, indulged in studying anatomy books, and imagined wounds that can be inflicted on people.

After a series of psychological observations and examinations, doctors asserted that Kot was completely sane and could attend the trial with full consequences of his actions.

Trial

Kot was charged with 2 murders, 10 attempted murders and 4 arsons.

The verdict was declared on 14 July 1967. Kot was declared guilty and sentenced to death, and he lost citizen rights.

During the trial, the doctors asserted that Kot was completely sane and could attend the trial with full consequences of his actions.

Kot pleaded guilty of the crimes he was charged with.

Sentencing

Kot was sentenced to death as a result of the verdict declared on 14 July 1967. The sentence was carried out on 16 May 1968.

Outcome

The death penalty was executed on May 16, 1968 by hanging.

Moral grounds

When asked in an interview whether he was aware of the notion of murder being a crime and an evil deed, Kot presented his moral standards. According to him, what determined moral appropriateness of people’s actions was the fact that they brought an individual satisfaction and a sense of fulfilled duty; he therefore considered himself a murderer, but not an evil person.

He also mythicized himself into being a chosen one, the rare person able to comprehend the act of drinking blood as something sacred and empowering.

Other details

Kot terrorized Kraków, the city he was born and raised in, with monstrous crimes for two years before he was finally captured on July 12, 1966. Because of the accidental choice of the victims, which included children and elderly people, and because of the horror his crimes evoked in the citizens of Kraków, Kot was remembered as Kraków’s vampire and a monster.

Kot was arrested and allowed to write the matura exam to demonstrate sanity and to show that he would not plead insanity during the trial.