BERLIN: German prosecutors stated Monday (Aug 10) they had been investigating dozens of suspicious instances which could possibly be linked to a palliative care nurse already jailed for the homicide of 10 sufferers.
The person – partially recognized by German media as Ulrich S., who labored in a hospital in Wuerselen close to the western metropolis of Aachen – was jailed for all times in November after being convicted of 10 counts of homicide and 27 of tried homicide.
Prosecutors in that earlier trial stated he injected the largely aged sufferers with massive doses of sedatives or painkillers, with the easy purpose of decreasing his workload throughout night time shifts.
The investigation continued after his conviction and prosecutors in Aachen now say they’re 121 instances they assume could possibly be linked to the person and that new expenses in opposition to him could possibly be filed subsequent yr.
Virtually 40 our bodies have to this point been exhumed as a part of the brand new investigation, which covers incidents going again so far as September 2022.
As well as, prosecutors in Cologne are investigating 18 additional instances, the earliest of which dates from 2010.
Earlier than working on the Wuerselen hospital, the nurse is believed to have been energetic at a clinic in Cologne, in response to native media reviews.
On the time of his conviction, the court docket additionally decided that the offences carried a “explicit severity of guilt” which ought to bar him from early launch after 15 years, usually an choice in such instances.
Within the trial, prosecutors described him as working “with no motivation” or empathy for his sufferers.
The case echoes that of nurse Niels Hoegel, who was handed a life sentence in 2019 for murdering 85 sufferers and who’s believed to be trendy Germany’s most prolific serial killer.
Hoegel killed sufferers with deadly injections between 2000 and 2005 earlier than he was caught.
Final month, a palliative care physician in Berlin was sentenced to life for murdering 15 folks with deadly doses of sedatives.
In a number of instances, he allegedly set hearth to their residences in an try and cowl up the killings.
He too stays beneath investigation over potential involvement in different instances.
