Help Karolina Make Her Final Journey Home
A £5,000 appeal has been launched to help return the body of murdered
Karolina Mikolajewska to Poland. Care worker Karolina, 20, was found
dead in a flat in Coniston Road, Patchway, one week ago.
This report is courtesy of Marc Cooper and the 'Bristol Evening Post'
Her family are too poor to come to Bristol or to have the body flown home.
And the Post can reveal Karolina had come to the city to earn money to send home to her terminally ill mother.
Now the Polish community in Bristol has launched an appeal to raise the money needed to return Karolina's body home.
Flat owner Clive Hayes, known locally as Stephen, went on the run but last Friday his car exploded in Thornbury, killing the driver. Hayes is believed to have burned to death when his silver MG Rover exploded several times, although detectives said they were still waiting for the body to be formally identified.
Karolina had only been working in the Bristol area for several weeks, as a care worker for a disabled woman in Chipping Sodbury.
George Peszynski, Honorary Consul for the Republic of Poland in Bristol, said the 4,000-strong Polish community in Bristol had been stunned by the murder.
He said: "She came to the UK in October. Her family are very poor and they cannot afford to come here.
"We understand she came here to earn some money for an operation for her mother.
"To lose her life when trying to do such a good deed is very sad. Her family are heartbroken."
The appeal to raise money for Karolina's family is being organised by the Polish church in Cheltenham Road.
Her family, who live in Katowice, said they were struggling to cope with her death.
Her brother, Daniel Mikolajewska, said: "My beloved sister was murdered while in Bristol. My mother is in absolute shock, and we do not know to whom we can turn for help. We have been visited by the police and had a telephone call from the Bristol police.
"We have no funds and means to bring her body home."
Dr Julia Verne, a volunteer for the organisation Bristol Polski, which gives advice to Polish people in Bristol, said everyone in the city could help raise money to return Karolina to her family.
She said: "Karolina has a very sick mother back in Poland.
"Karolina was trying to raise money for an operation for her.
"There are lots of people who are at risk when they are not in their own country, they are really desperate. Sometimes because they are desperate they mix with people they would not normally have contact with."
Bristol Polski is hosting a personal safety session at the Polish church in Cheltenham Road, on Friday, February 24, 8pm- 10pm.
To donate to the appeal to raise £5,000 to reunite Karolina's body with her family, cheques made out to Polish RC Church should be sent to: Evening Post Karolina Appeal, c/o Polish Church of Our Lady Of Ostrobrama, Cheltenham Road, Bristol BS6 5RH. Karolina's name should be written on the back of the cheque.
Anyone who wants to organise an event to raise money can contact the Polish consul in Bristol on 973 1496 between 10am and noon, Monday to Friday.
This article was first published in the 'Bristol Evening Post'
This report is courtesy of Marc Cooper and the 'Bristol Evening Post'
Her family are too poor to come to Bristol or to have the body flown home.
And the Post can reveal Karolina had come to the city to earn money to send home to her terminally ill mother.
Now the Polish community in Bristol has launched an appeal to raise the money needed to return Karolina's body home.
Flat owner Clive Hayes, known locally as Stephen, went on the run but last Friday his car exploded in Thornbury, killing the driver. Hayes is believed to have burned to death when his silver MG Rover exploded several times, although detectives said they were still waiting for the body to be formally identified.
Karolina had only been working in the Bristol area for several weeks, as a care worker for a disabled woman in Chipping Sodbury.
George Peszynski, Honorary Consul for the Republic of Poland in Bristol, said the 4,000-strong Polish community in Bristol had been stunned by the murder.
He said: "She came to the UK in October. Her family are very poor and they cannot afford to come here.
"We understand she came here to earn some money for an operation for her mother.
"To lose her life when trying to do such a good deed is very sad. Her family are heartbroken."
The appeal to raise money for Karolina's family is being organised by the Polish church in Cheltenham Road.
Her family, who live in Katowice, said they were struggling to cope with her death.
Her brother, Daniel Mikolajewska, said: "My beloved sister was murdered while in Bristol. My mother is in absolute shock, and we do not know to whom we can turn for help. We have been visited by the police and had a telephone call from the Bristol police.
"We have no funds and means to bring her body home."
Dr Julia Verne, a volunteer for the organisation Bristol Polski, which gives advice to Polish people in Bristol, said everyone in the city could help raise money to return Karolina to her family.
She said: "Karolina has a very sick mother back in Poland.
"Karolina was trying to raise money for an operation for her.
"There are lots of people who are at risk when they are not in their own country, they are really desperate. Sometimes because they are desperate they mix with people they would not normally have contact with."
Bristol Polski is hosting a personal safety session at the Polish church in Cheltenham Road, on Friday, February 24, 8pm- 10pm.
To donate to the appeal to raise £5,000 to reunite Karolina's body with her family, cheques made out to Polish RC Church should be sent to: Evening Post Karolina Appeal, c/o Polish Church of Our Lady Of Ostrobrama, Cheltenham Road, Bristol BS6 5RH. Karolina's name should be written on the back of the cheque.
Anyone who wants to organise an event to raise money can contact the Polish consul in Bristol on 973 1496 between 10am and noon, Monday to Friday.
This article was first published in the 'Bristol Evening Post'
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