A former nurse has been jailed for life after he was found guilty of murdering 85 patients in his care by administering lethal drugs as he liked the thrill of reviving them.
42-year-old Niels Hoegel committed the crimes from 2000 and 2005 while working at two hospitals in Germany.
Between 1999 and 2002, he worked at a hospital in the northwestern city of Oldenburg. He also worked at another hospital from 2003 to 2005.
Police managed to identify over 200 suspicious deaths linked to him. However, they could only investigate 130 as some of the deceased were cremated or buried so long ago.
He was charged with 100 counts of murder and a jury found him guilty on 85 of those. There wasn’t enough evidence to support the other 15 claims.
During his trial, Hoegel admitted to murdering 43, disputed 5 and said he couldn’t remember the rest.
Oldenburg court judge Sebastian Buehrmann sentenced him to life in jail, noting the ‘particular seriousness of the crimes’ in his verdict.
In 2015, he was convicted of two attempted murders and two murders. Hoegel is currently serving a life sentence.
He admitted that he intentionally brought about cardiac crises in patients as he liked the feeling of being able to revive them. He also revealed that he killed patients in Oldenburg.
“I am really sorry,” he said during the trial.
He testified that his childhood was free of violence. His father and grandmother were both nurses and had been his role models. “Now I sit here fully convinced that I want to give every relative an answer.”
He added: “To each and every one of you I sincerely apologize for all that I have done.”
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