Several days ago it was reported that Polish metal band Decapitated had been arrested on charges of kidnapping surrounding an alleged incident that occurred on their tour bus last month, but court documents now reveal that all four members are being charged over an alleged gang rape.
The band were arrested after the alleged victim reported an August 31 assault the following day, and The Spokesman Review reports that Michal Lysejko, 27; Waclaw Kieltyka, 35; Rafal Piotrowski, 31; and Hubert Wiecek, 30 were arrested following their show in California on Saturday. They are now being held until a possible extradition to Spokane, Washington, where the alleged incident is said to have occurred.
The alleged victim claims that she and a friend met the members of the band after the show and were invited for drinks on the tour bus outside the venue, but her “excitement” to be on the bus disappeared when drummer Michal Lysejko began “grabbing her breasts”.
Court documents state that the woman “was uncomfortable and said the band members began speaking to each other in Polish,” and describe how “the ‘vibe’ in the bus changed, and one of the members began looking at them like they were prey.”
The alleged victim claims she signalled to her friend that they both needed to leave, before going to use the bathroom, where she was followed to the bathroom by lead singer Rafal Piotrowski, who told her that her “You have to have fun. She left you.”
The court documents explain that the woman “attempted to push Piotrowski away but he grabbed her arm and spun her around to where she was facing the sink and mirror in the bathroom”, and that she then “saw in the mirror and out of the corner of her eye each of the band members taking turns raping her.”
The other woman also claims she hadn’t left the scene, and witnessed the attack in full. The two apparently left separately, and after driving away alone from the site of the alleged attack, she was stopped by police on suspicion of DUI. She then called the alleged victim, who reported the attack and was later found by police as she was walking several kilometres from the venue.
The victim “described her body as feeling broken,” court documents state, and she was taken for a full medical evaluation that found “significant bruising to her upper arms consistent with being restrained” and “small abrasions to her knuckles that were scabbed over,” which she claims were caused by “digging her fist into the wall to try and distract herself from what was happening.”
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office have interviewed the band members, and court documents reveal their responses to questioning.
Lysejko “made no comment other than he did not know who the girls were,” and said “he would not talk without using a translator,” while Kieltyka told detectives that both Piotrowski and Wiecek were involved in sex acts in the bathroom. Both gave DNA evidence.
Piotrowski, meanwhile, “admitted there was a party on the bus and (the women) were present. He then requested an attorney and a translator refusing to make any further statements,” before declining to give a DNA sample.
Admitting that the women entered the bus, Wiecek claims he “sat on the couch and did not see what was going on,” court documents add, and he also declined to give a DNA sample. “He then said he needed a translator so he did not misspeak. He also said no one was forced to get on the bus. He then said he did not recall what happened.”
Another man, Wojciech Cichocki, was interviewed in connection with the alleged attack, but told detectives he was sleeping in the cab of the bus and didn’t witness anything.
While The Spokesman Review reports that police stated the band may face additional charges, the band’s attorney Steve Graham has said they will not fight the extradition.
“We have witnesses that can testify to the fact that the accuser came to visit the band of her own free will and left on good terms,” he said, after the first reports of an alleged kidnapping broke, and followed it with another statement after the rape accusations came to light.
“Decapitated plan to fully fight the allegations that are brought against them, and we are fully confident that the other side of this story will be heard.”
