Lukasz Czapla will serve at least 23 years for shooting, smothering and stabbing two-year-old Juliusz.
A man who shot, stabbed and smothered his young son to death has been found guilty of murder.
Lukasz Czapla, 41, killed two-year-old Juliusz after splitting up with the boy’s mother.
Czapla was given a life sentence and the judge said he would serve at least 23 years before being eligible to apply for parole.
He had denied murdering the toddler in his home in Muirhouse, Edinburgh, in November 2020.
Czapla had offered a guilty plea to the lesser charge of culpable homicide at the High Court in Edinburgh but it was rejected by the Crown.
A jury heard that Julius was killed by Czapla “in a fit of anger and spite” to “get back at and hurt his former partner” Patrycja Szczesniak.
The couple had been in a relationship until June 2020.
Consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Alexander Quinn told the court he believed that Mr Czapla’s actions were a “narcissistic and entitled” act.
Prosecutor Alan Cameron said the evidence before the jury showed Czapla was motivated by anger and jealousy over Ms Szczesniak’s new relationship.
He told jurors that on the night Julius died, Czapla sent text messages to Ms Szczesniak asking her about her new partner and her sex life.
She did not answer the questions.
Czapla then decided to shoot Julius three times in the head with a gas-powered air pistol.
Three ball bearings were later recovered from his head.
He then stabbed the toddler with a metal skewer before smothering him with a pillow leaving Juliusz lying lifeless in his house.
The court heard how Ms Szczesniak discovered her son’s remains the following day.
Czapla claimed he suffered from poor mental health at the time he killed Juliusz and it was so bad that it affected his actions, causing him to act out of character.
Consultant psychiatrist Dr Quinn and another senior consultant psychiatrist Dr Khuram Khan both assessed Czapla, and disagreed over his mental state.
After multiple interviews, Dr Khan said Czapla had Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD), a condition that causes intense fluctuations of emotions among other symptoms including depression and impulsivity.
Dr Quinn agreed Czapla had a “depressive illness” but that it “was not severe” and dismissed the EUPD diagnosis.
Jurors took three hours to conclude that Czapla was guilty of murder.
Passing sentence, judge Lord Beckett said that Czapla’s use of drink and drugs provided him with “no excuse” for what he did to Julius.
He said: “Your son will never grow up and his loving mother has lost him forever and will forever be haunted by the truly evil act that you did.
“You acted out of spite to punish his mother for leaving you and getting on with her life.”
The judge later told jurors that this case exceeded the awfulness of so many others.
Following the verdict, Ms Szczesniak released a statement.
It said: “Despite the breakup with Juliusz’s dad, I wanted him to have contact with our son. I never stopped him seeing Juliusz. Julek loved him like every child loves their dad. He trusted him, he trusted him completely.
“Juliusz was murdered only for revenge. His dad wanted me to suffer, he succeeded and achieved his goal, at the cost of my beloved little boy’s life.
“If only I knew what was going to happen. I would have never thought he could do this to my child.”
She added: “He not only took Juliusz life but my life too.
“That day, the world stopped, not only for me but also for my mother and my sister.
“Juliusz was a very happy child. He lit up the place wherever he showed up.
“Juliuszek left us the most beautiful memories that will remain in our hearts forever.”