Pawel Klosowski (pictured) pleaded guilty to killing his son and the teenager’s girlfriend
A self-professed ‘monster’ who shot his son and the teenager’s girlfriend in front of his young step-children has been jailed for at least 34 years.
Pawel Klosowski shot and killed his son Lukasz Klosowski and Chelsea Ireland, both 19, on his property at Mount McIntyre, south-east South Australia, in August last year.
The 46-year-old pleaded guilty to both their murders in November, before he faced the Supreme Court on Thursday where Justice Anne Bampton handed him the sentence.
He will be 80 years old by the time he is eligible for parole.
In recent submissions, Klosowski admitted he could not explain his actions amid an alcohol-fuelled argument over the dinner table, during which time he reduced his teenage son to tears.
Chelsea Ireland and Lukasz Kłosowski, both 19, were shot dead at a property in southeast South Australia
Before she was gunned down in a double murder at a rural farm in southeast South Australia, Chelsea Ireland lived her life putting others before herself
In a short apology read to the court, he said he thought about what he had done every day.
‘I acted like a monster. The world would be a better place if I had shot myself instead,’ he said.
‘They were two wonderful people who were clearly destined to live happy … I destroyed the lives of their family and many other people.’
But prosecutor Kos Lesses said the apology was ‘too little, too late’.
Mr Lesses said the shootings followed a row between Klosowski and his son after the teenager had indicated his intention to move out of his mother’s house.
‘The offending came about due to the insulting of the defendant’s pride,’ the prosecutor said.
The Ireland family previously described Chelsea and Lukasz (pictured) as great mates who had ‘just bonded’
Pictured: Lukasz was farewelled at an intimate funeral as flowers and a photograph of him was laid on his coffin
‘And it was fuelled by the combination of two fatal causes, anger and alcohol.’
Justice Brampton detailed how the argument had escalated with the killer berating his son at one stage for crying like a ‘little baby’.
She said affronted by perceived disrespect from his son and Ms Ireland, Klosowski’s behaviour escalated becoming irrational, reactive and ultimately violent.
‘Your conduct was deliberate and purposeful,’ she told him.
The court heard that Lukasz was shot first in a bedroom and then Klosowski reloaded his gun before firing at the locked bathroom door where Ms Ireland had hidden and called triple zero.
A second shot, delivered at close range, had killed her with her body found in the bath.
Pictured: Lukasz Klosowski, Maddie Ireland and Chelsea Ireland. Maddie posted the image on Facebook with the caption ‘my guardian angels’
Because of his early guilty pleas, Klosowski was entitled to up to a 40 per cent discount on his non-parole period but Mr Lesses asked for any reduction to be significantly curtailed.
In September, Ms Ireland’s family revealed she was passionate about the environment and determined to ‘change the world’ after learning of her death.
They remembered the mechanical engineering student as someone who left a lasting impression on everyone she met.
‘Chelsea was compassionate, strong, selfless and fearless and continues to make us proud every day,’ her father Greg Ireland said.
‘We haven’t just lost a daughter, we’ve lost a best friend. Our hearts will forever remain broken.’
Greg and Debra Ireland, who treated Lukasz like a member of the family, recalled the final moment they shared with their daughter – the morning before the tragedy
Debra Ireland said her daughter was passionate about environmental care and making changes to save the planet.
‘She was going to change the world,’ Mrs Ireland said.
‘She not only talked about it, she lived it.’
The family said Chelsea and Lukasz were great mates and had ‘just bonded’.
Her devastated parents previously recalled the final moment they shared with their daughter – the morning before the tragedy.
‘I went in and kissed her goodbye and said…”be careful on that road” and she said ”what do you think Lukasz is going to do? He’s not stupid”,’ Mrs Ireland previously told The Advertiser.
When she was just 15 years old, Chelsea watched a YouTube video that inspired her to donate her waist-length brown locks to cancer patients
Mr Ireland also gave his daughter a hug and said he loved her.
‘From an early age, I’ve always said to the girls ”dads always need hugs” so I go up, give them a hug and tell them I love them… so I did that with Chelsea,’ he said.
Chelsea’s 21-year-old sister Maddie sent her a message about a double rainbow the day before her death, which she will forever remember as their final conversation.
Mrs Ireland said her daughter had only met the accused killer four times – twice when he took the couple for dinner in Adelaide, and twice in Mount Gambier, near his property.
‘I just keep wishing I could have said to her don’t go but she was 19, she had travelled Europe on her own. She was street-smart, independent, strong-willed – there was no way I could have held her home, but I just wish I could have,’ the mother-of-two said.
Kłosowski had barely seen his son since his relationship with Lukasz’s mother Magdalena broke down in 2005.
Lukasz was studying journalism at the University of South Australia while working at KFC
Chelsea and Lukasz dated for several years and had travelled the world together, exploring his Polish heritage
Photos of Lukasz about that time show him with his mother, and another clutching a decoration reading ‘Sto Lat (Happy Birthday) Lukasz’.
Family friends said Magdalena limited contact between her ex-husband and her son, and later started dating a woman she is still in a relationship with.
Kłosowski and Lukasz only occasionally crossed paths until recent years when he tried to mend fences after marrying his wife Monica.
However, Kłosowski noted his son’s absence from numerous family photos with his three stepchildren and called him ‘stubborn’.
The Ireland family are still in shock and told the publication they never thought ‘tragedies you see in the paper’ would happen to them.
Despite her violent death, the family remembered Chelsea’s sense of adventure and kind heart.
Chelsea and Lukasz dated for several years and had travelled the world together, exploring his Polish heritage.
They attended different Adelaide high schools – Lukasz at Christian Brothers College and Chelsea at St Mary’s College.
The house on the expansive property off Mount McIntyre Road in Mount McIntyre where Kłosowski and his wife live and the shooting took place
Lukasz was studying journalism at the University of South Australia while working at KFC.
His girlfriend was enrolled in mechanical engineering at Adelaide University and working at Baker’s Delight.
In an assessment for Adelaide University, the student shared an experience she had visiting an indigenous community on the outskirts of The Great Victoria Desert.
She said it empowered her to want to improve the quality of life for those living in remote communities.
Defence counsel Nick Vadasz told the court that while Klosowski could not explain his actions on the night he accepted that his intention was to kill.
‘The prisoner accepts the horror of his behaviour,’ Mr Vadasz said.
Justice Bamptom imposed the mandatory head sentence of life in jail with a non-parole period of 34 years.
