A German court on Wednesday sentenced a caregiver to 15 years in prison over the killing of four people in a disabled care home in Potsdam, near Berlin. In April, four acutely disabled residents were found dead in various rooms in the facility with fatal wounds.
What did the court say?
The 52-year-old nurse was found guilty of four counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder. The court ordered the defendant, identified as Ines Andrea R., to remain in a secure psychiatric facility for an unspecified length of time. She will also be barred for life from working in care homes. According to the court, she had first tried to strangle two residents, believing one of them to be dead and giving up on the other because it was too difficult. She then stabbed four other residents to death with an 11-centimeter (four-inch). Wednesday’s verdict met the prosecution’s demands. Chief prosecutor Maria Stiller had called the killings a “profoundly evil” act. The victims were residents at the Thusnelda von Saldern Haus facility in Potsdam
‘Intense, extreme violence’
Police said the victims, two women and two men aged between 31 and 56, had been subjected to “intense, extreme violence.” The nurse has been placed in psychiatric care since she was detained immediately after the rampage. The married mother of two sons expressed her regret after closing arguments at the trial last week. She said she was still in shock about committing the murders. “I’m really sorry,” she told the court. More to follow… fb/rt (AFP, dpa)