TWO members of a gang of robbers who burst into a man’s Oswestry home and attacked him have been jailed for seven years.


Polish national Kamil Kowalewski was hit over the head with a plate and repeatedly jabbed in the face with a baseball bat during the raid at his home at Crestwood Court on February 9. He suffered cuts and bruises and needed stitches.
 

Rafal Zaborowski and Pawel Kulacz were among five men said to be involved in the attack.
Sentencing the two men, Judge Peter Barrie said: “It was a very frightening, harmful and violent offence and you, Kulacz, have a previous conviction for something similar in Poland.”
 

The judge said he accepted neither of the men used the baseball bat to injure the victim and told them they would be liable for automatic deportation on their release from prison.
 

Zaborowski, 33, of Leg Street, Oswestry and Kulacz, 35, of Sycamore Drive, Newtown, were convicted by a jury at Shrewsbury Crown Court following a four-day trial.
A third defendant, Marcin Kowalski, 34, of Gungrog Road, Welshpool, was cleared of robbery.
 

The court had heard that Mr Kowalewski was woken from his bed as up to five robbers burst into his home and attacked him before stealing cash, a mobile phone and a laptop computer.
He told the court he heard the sound of smashing glass and went downstairs to find a group of men at his front door.
All three defendants told the jury that they had been drinking heavily on the day.
 

Kowalski said he had no idea why he was at the victim’s home or how he got there and denied searching rooms or demanding Mr Kowalewski’s credit card details.
Zaborowski denied robbery and told the court that Mr Kowalewski had sold him amphetamines, but claimed the victim had become angry because the defendant owed him money and had grabbed a baseball bat.
 

He said there was a struggle and admitted using violence against Mr Kowalewski because he was “scared of the bat”.


Kulacz also denied robbing the victim and claimed he was outside waiting for a friend and was not one of five men seen on CCTV entering the building.
 

He told the jury that the victim’s blood found on his jacket must have been ‘transferred’ and had no idea why his fingerprint was discovered on the laptop.