(Warning: The following story concerns a potential victim of domestic violence and may be disturbing to some readers. People who have been affected by domestic or gender-based violence can get help here).
This text is a translation from CTV News.
“She was such a caring mother to her children,” Peter Wardzala said in an interview with CTV News on New Year’s Day. “She was an incredible daughter to my mother and father. She was an extraordinary sister to me.
“Without her, I wouldn’t be the man I am today,” he added. “She helped me a lot in my life. Without her, I was lost.”
The Sunday Murders
On Sunday, December 29, at approximately 9:30 p.m., police were called to a home located in the 0-100 block of Kincora Grove NW in Calgary.
Officers found a 70-year-old man – Peter and Ania’s father, Stanislaw Wardzala – dead.
While police were investigating, a second victim, Ania, was found dead in a home at 11:15 p.m. in the 300 block of Tuscany Ridge Heights NW
Police say the killer is Benedict Kaminski, Ania’s husband and Stanislaw’s son-in-law.
An emergency alert was issued Monday afternoon for Benedict, whose body was discovered later that afternoon.
Police said Sunday’s two deaths are considered targeted and domestic in nature.
A shocking event
Three days later, Peter tried to make sense of this shocking event. He has taken in the family’s three children, aged six, four and two, along with his mother, and says he intends to raise them.
He said a Christmas family row involving Benedict was the final straw for Ania, who was planning to leave the marriage.
“All families have arguments, they fight, but yes,” he said. “There was a little family argument (on Christmas Day) and she said that was the final straw.
“She said she had tried for so long,” he added. “The last two years she did her best for her youngest son, Caspar, but she drew the line and that was it.
He described the relationship between his sister and her husband as “rocky” but, to his knowledge, it had never been violent.
“She comes from an old-school mentality, like my mother did with my father: if you commit to marrying someone, you’re going to stay with them through thick and thin, and try to make it happen. to make things work,” Wardzala said.
“But I don’t know. Violence? I wouldn’t say it’s violence. But this guy (Benedict) never had any respect.
“My sister did everything and I feel like it was never good enough,” he added. “If there was violence, I don’t know because my sister never said anything.
He said the murder happened because Ania went to the house where Benedict was staying to drop off their three children so they could visit their father.
My sister was supposed to drop the kids off and come home,” he said, “because it was obvious those kids were still hers.”
“There was no separation or anything. She was respectful,” he added.
Massive support
A GoFundMe campaign was started by a family friend and has already raised nearly $200,000.
Mr. Wardzala said he was overwhelmed by the support he received from Calgarians, the Polish community, old friends and strangers who reached out to offer whatever support they could.
-“You have no idea the incredible support you received in Calgary and within our Polish community,” he said.
Peter said his mother and father, who he said worked for Spruce Meadows, moved to Canada from Poland when he and Ania were born, to give them a better life.
He described his father Stanislaw as “a wonderful man”.
“He was an outdoorsman. He used to hunt and camp,” Peter said.
“He just retired – it was this year – because a few years ago he had problems with a flesh-eating disease. He had several strokes during his life. He had back surgery and had a disc removed.
“Yet, even after everything that happened in his life, he was the most loving and encouraging father, husband and especially grandfather to his three children.
“He absolutely loved them.
Scared
The family’s three children moved in with Peter and his mother.
He said his mother plans to retire to raise the children, while he has a “casual” job where he doesn’t work too many days a week.
“I’m not going to lie, I’m scared when we get home, just me, my mom and the three kids,” Peter said. “I don’t know how we’re going to explain this to the kids.
“Seeing their faces when they are running around and happy makes us smile because they are still kids having fun, but the reality is that my mother and I will do everything we can to support these children.
“Haunted” by events
Peter remains haunted by the events of Sunday night, during the holiday season when police say incidents of domestic violence are skyrocketing.
“I think maybe I could have done something,” he said.
Looking back, he has advice for anyone who fears that someone they know is in danger.
“If this ever happens, when one parent has to drop their child off at the other parent’s house or something like that, let them have another person with them,” he said. “Someone else has to be there as a support system, a defense system, because honestly, you never know, you never know.
A huge impact
Her sister was a schoolteacher in the Rockyview County school system, where she taught first and second graders.
“She had a huge impact wherever she went, whether it was in the Polish community or the school she taught at in the Rockyview area, she would have done anything for her children,” he said .
“She was the most caring and loving mother in the world,” he added. “She was never upset about anything. If she had problems, she didn’t show it.
“She has always been a positive, charismatic and very strong person. A very, very strong woman.
Autopsies for both victims are scheduled for Friday.
With information from CTV’s Michael Franklin, Damien Wood and Mason Depatie.
