Prosecutors in southwest Poland say a man has been arrested on allegations of imprisoning and physically and mentally abusing a woman for more than five years with “special cruelty.”
Prosecutors in the town of Legnica say the abuse started in January 2019 and lasted until last week in the village of Gaiki, near Glogow.
They only identify the suspect as 35-year-old Mateusz J., in line with Poland’s privacy laws.
They say the woman, who is now 30, was held in an unheated building with no water or toilet facilities. There, he repeatedly abused her sexually and physically and gave her limited access to food and drink.
They say he humiliated and controlled the woman, kept her in isolation and brought her out only with a hood over her eyes.
Local news outlets in Glogow say he had held the woman in a shed at his family farm. His elderly parents reportedly told local news they were not aware of the situation.
According to myGlogow, the victim was reportedly impregnated by Mateusz J. and taken to a hospital to give birth and then give up the baby for adoption.
“I couldn’t tell the doctors the truth. I was afraid, and he threatened me that if I complained it would get even worse,” the victim said, according to the outlet.
The man was finally arrested after he brought the woman to a hospital on Tuesday for treatment of a dislocated shoulder. At the hospital, the woman alerted the staff to her situation.
The man has been questioned and denies any wrongdoing, prosecutors say. If convicted, he could face up to 25 years in prison.
The case evokes that of Josef Fritzl, an Austrian man who kept his daughter captive for over 20 years and raped her thousands of times, fathering seven children with her. Earlier this year, a court ruled Fritzl could be moved from psychiatric detention to a regular prison.