A Perth father who suffered a strange illness that mysteriously cleared up when he went on holiday without his wife set up a series of traps to see if she was trying to poison him.
Suspicious Robert Knapinski, 64, swapped his meals with their son’s in front of wife Bozena, 63, in an attempt to prove she was making him sick by spiking his food.
He also set up secret cameras which captured his wife of 40 years pouring toxic levels of selenium into his drinking water and reported her to the police.
Ms Knapinski was arrested in April 2023 and is now on trial at the Supreme Court of West Australia.
She denies any wrongdoing and insists she was only trying to improve his health and their marriage.
Her lawyer Michael Tudori told the court she claims her now ex-husband was a hypochondriac.
While she worked two jobs and did most of the housework, he ‘complained daily about some medical pain or suffering’, he told the court in his opening address.
But Mr Knapinski alleges his wife was still upset about an affair he had during a seven-month ‘separation’ in 2021 when she moved into a bedroom upstairs at their home in Embleton, 7km from Perth’s CBD.
‘She said she would forgive but not forget,’ Mr Knapinski told the court.
Mr Knapinski claims he suffered with sickness for years but became suspicious of his wife after feeling much better while on a European holiday in 2022 without her.
Bozena Knapinski is accused of poisoning her husband of 40-years by putting drops of Selenium in his water
It was after the four-month trip to Poland he tried to catch her out by swapping his meal with their son’s ‘in front of my wife’.
‘[I was] just testing her reaction – I would think, if she poisoned something, she would react,’ he said.
He later discovered she was allegedly adding vast drops of the health supplement Selenium to his water bottles after secretly filming her.
According to the Medical Journal of Australia selenium is an antioxidant and is sold in Australia as a mineral used for boosting your immune system and slowing age-related mental decline.
But in excessive doses, it can be toxic and cause stomach pains, dizziness, vomiting cardiac failure and death.
The court was told Mr Knapinski stored 13 bottles of suspected tampered water in his basement, which were seized and tested by police two days after his initial complaint.
Clinical toxicologist Dr Kerry Hoggett told the court selenium levels in bottles were 140 to 1100 times higher than Australian drinking water guidelines.
During the trial, Mr Knapinski admitted he has been out of work for almost 40 years since suffering a back injury in 1988 but, when pressed by defence lawyers, he could not explain details of the injury or how it impacted his ability to work.
Mr Knapinski told the court he had received a meagre disability pension since the incident.
Mr Tudori put it to Mr Knapinski that his wife worked as a cleaner and a waitress to make ends meet while also taking on the lion’s share of the housework and raising of their son, which he denied.
On Monday, state prosecutor Brett Tooker told the court about the couple’s turbulent marriage since they wed in Poland before emigrating to Australia with their son.
Selenium supplements are sold in Australia as an immune booster but can be toxic if taken in a high dose. Robert Knapinski was suspicious of his wife so he swapped his soup with their sons to see if she would react
‘As the years progressed, it became very unhealthy,’ he told the jury.
The couple eventually divorced after the poisoning allegations came to light, and finalised the split in 2024.
But Ms Knapinski denied wishing to cause her husband any harm, instead claiming she wanted to ‘make him more vibrant’.
Mr Tudori told the jury she accepted she did it without his permission, but said she was just ‘doing it to make him feel better’.
He added that Mr Knapinski was a ‘hypochondriac’, and was ‘always complaining about being unwell’.
‘He went to numerous specialists, dozens of specialists, dozens of other practitioners,’ Mr Tudori told the jury.
‘He complained about lots of issues including a rash on his neck and abdominal issues going back a decade.
Mrs Knapinski has pleaded not guilty to six counts of intent to harm endangering the life of another person. The trial continues.
