Svetlana Plyushko
The court also heard that Svetlana Plyushko (pictured) allegedly sexually abused the 10 children aged between 4 and 16 and forced them to take drugs before inviting around local paedophiles who paid to abuse them
A foster mum who rescued orphans from war-torn Ukraine has gone on trial for torture, sexual abuse and letting paedophiles pay to rape children in her care.

A court in the Polish city of Poznan has heard that Ukrainian Svetlana Plyushko regularly assaulted the children, forced them to put soiled nappies in their mouths and eat vomit.

It also heard that the 53-year-old allegedly sexually abused the 10 children aged between 4 and 16 and forced them to take drugs before inviting around local paedophiles who paid to abuse them.

Svetlana Plyushko
A court in the Polish city of Poznan has heard that Ukrainian Svetlana Plyushko (pictured) regularly assaulted the children, forced them to put soiled nappies in their mouths, and eat vomit
Citing one example, prosecutor Aneta Chamczyล„ska-Penkala told the court: 'Together and in agreement with unidentified men, making it a permanent source of income, she handed over a minor to them in order to force her to have sexual intercourse.'

Local journalist Piotr ลปytnicki from the respected Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper reported: 'They held her by the hair and raped her, while [Svetlana] stood in the doorway with the phone in her hand and counted the time.

'She counted if 20 minutes had passed. These men probably paid for those 20 minutes. The children said, "Mum didn't save us".'

A child psychiatrist added that when she interviewed the children they were 'scared. They sat with their hands on their knees, heads down, no eye contact.

'They were pale and very emaciated.

'The five-year-old weighed 11 kg. The condition of the teeth was bad. I've never seen such decay.

'This was not negligence that arose in a few weeks.'
Svetlana Plyushko
Pictured: Svetlana Plyushko. Citing one example, prosecutor Aneta Chamczyล„ska-Penkala told the court: 'Together and in agreement with unidentified men, making it a permanent source of income, she handed over a minor to them in order to force her to have sexual intercourse'
The house of horrors was revealed after the doctor was called to treat one of the children suffering from stomach problems.

The doctor said: 'That night she began to talk about the violence that Svetlana used.

'I have never seen such a child, eyes fixed on one point, tears dripping down her face, and she talked and talked.

'She was pouring out information. She finished one topic and started another.

'The next day, more children started talking.'

Plyushko, who faces up to 15 years in jail if found guilty, said that before Russia's invasion she had been running a foster home in Ukraine for 15 years.


Comment: She faces just 'up to' 15 years in jail??


She added that there had never been any complaints before.

Denying all charges, she told the court: 'Maybe I hurt them because I didn't surround them with love and care.'

The trial continues.