Two tier justice once again :The Zurawska Case Exposes Our Two-Tier Legal System

By Michael Thompson, founder of the Falsely Accused Network

The recent case of Karolina Zurawska, who killed her six-year-old disabled son Aleksander by attempting to decapitate him with a hand saw, has once again exposed the shameful double standards that plague our justice system.

As I've documented repeatedly on this blog, female perpetrators of even the most horrific violence consistently receive preferential treatment in our courts. Judge Paul Thomas KC's decision to issue an indefinite hospital order rather than proper punishment represents yet another example of this systemic failure.

The details of this case are nothing short of harrowing. Aleksander was a vulnerable child recovering from a brain tumour that left him partially sighted and requiring a cane to walk. His mother didn't just kill him – she attempted to saw off his head. She also made multiple attempts to stab her elderly father. Yet the judge had the audacity to tell her: "You are not a wicked mother, far from it."

Swansea crown court

Let's be honest about what would happen if the perpetrator were male. A father who attempted to decapitate his disabled son would not receive sympathetic platitudes about not being "wicked." He would be condemned as a monster, and rightly so. The mental health defence would be given far less weight, if acknowledged at all.

The court's emphasis on Zurawska's mental state rather than the brutality of her actions demonstrates once again how our society refuses to hold women accountable to the same standards as men. Paranoid schizophrenia is a serious condition, certainly, but it cannot become a get-out-of-jail-free card for the most heinous acts of violence simply based on the perpetrator's gender.

This case sends a dangerous message to society: that a mother can commit the most unspeakable violence against her child and be treated primarily as a patient rather than a criminal. It reinforces the harmful notion that women lack agency and are not fully responsible for their actions.

The victims in these cases – in this instance, a helpless six-year-old boy described by his school headteacher as "a delightful, determined little boy" who was "extremely loved and popular" – deserve better from our justice system. Aleksander will never grow up, never fulfil his potential, never experience the fullness of life, because his mother decided to end his existence in the most brutal way imaginable.

Judge Thomas said that "the burden of what happened will always be with you [Zurawska]." What about the burden on society of a justice system that consistently fails to deliver equal treatment before the law?

Until we demand true equality in how violent crimes are treated, regardless of the perpetrator's gender, we will continue to see these grave miscarriages of justice. And tragically, vulnerable children like Aleksander will continue to pay the ultimate price.