A man stripped naked in a Dundee toy store on Easter Sunday before abducting a six-year-old boy then battering the terrified child’s grandmother with a cricket bat, the sheriff court has heard.
Prezymyslaw Kaluzny has served a series of jail terms in his homeland of Poland for violent offences, including a 4-year sentence for robbery and 10 months for hostage taking.
Kaluzny, 41, who had been living in Dundee and is presently detained at Murray Royal Hospital in Perth, pleaded guilty on indictment to a total of six charges.
He admitted that on April 5 at Toys R Us, Kingsway West Retail Park, Dundee, he was in possession of an offensive weapon, behaved in a threatening and abusive manner, committed an offence of public indecency, assaulted a six-year-old boy and abducted him and then assaulted a woman with a cricket bat to her injury.
Kaluzny further admitted an act of vandalism committed in a police car travelling from Toys ’R Us to Dundee’s Police HQ.
He had not-guilty pleas accepted to charges of theft, taking and driving away a car, driving without a licence or insurance, careless driving, and an offence under the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act.
Depute fiscal Eilidh Robertson told the court that extensive investigations had been undertaken since the incident into Kaluzny’s mental state.
She said: “His previous convictions disclose offences of theft, dealing in stolen goods, robbery, hostage taking and burglary.
“There has been investigation by the Crown and defence in terms of whether he is fit to instruct his solicitor and plead.
“There is a DVD which captures the charges he has pled guilty to.The CCTV is of an extremely distressing and sensitive nature.”
Defence solicitor Nicola Brown said: “He has written what is a letter of apology, in essence.That is being translated and will be provided to the court.
“We are now satisfied that he is fit to give instructions and plead.He has never been in a position to do so previously.”
Sheriff Lorna Drummond QC imposed an interim compulsion order, meaning Kaluzny will be detained in a secure hospital unit to undergo treatment for a mental disorder ahead of a review hearing in December.
At that point the court will be shown the CCTV footage of the attack and be given a full written narrative of the events.Witnesses described horrorAt the time of the rampage witnesses told of their horror at the events which unfolded.
One said: “He was swinging the bat and tried to get at folk and an older lady – he didn’t seem to be going after one particular person.
“He had been ranting and raving in a foreign language.
“There must have been 20 other folk who jumped on him and took him down.
“He was still struggling and we had to put trolleys on top of him to keep him there.The man was really strong and absolutely out of it.”
One woman, who asked not to be named, said: “I saw one woman with a young girl in the toilets and he was kicking the toilet doors.
“They tried to run for it but he then chased them down the aisles.”
She added: “Now there are several parents having to try to explain to their kids why a naked man was chasing them with a bat.”
Another witness added: “He walked straight past us starting to strip off and throwing things on to the shelves.
“Luckily my husband realised something was up. He notified security and got us out of the store just as he was starting to kick off.”