Did a nurse in Winningen kill a helpless, seriously ill patient? Yes, said the judges at the Koblenz regional court and handed down a harsh verdict.
When the verdict came down on Tuesday afternoon, it became clear that the judges at the Koblenz Regional Court followed the public prosecutor’s demands in every way: They imposed life imprisonment on the defendant and a lifelong ban on working as a nurse. And they noted “the particular gravity of the guilt”: This means that a perpetrator can only be released early from prison after 15 years in exceptional cases.
The prerequisite for the particular severity of guilt is that the act was particularly cruel. The judges and the public prosecutor also assume this in this case: In her plea, the public prosecutor literally said that “the defendant did not care for his patient, but rather tortured her.”
According to the district court, the nurse wanted to take revenge on the patient
The judges saw it as proven that the nurse wanted to torture and kill the defenseless woman. The regional court recognized that the motive was that the man wanted to take revenge on the 49-year-old because she had insisted that a second nurse should always be there when he carried out nursing work on her, even though he was better than the rest of the team was trained.
Defense attorney pleaded negligent homicide
The defense attorney, however, demanded a prison sentence of five years for negligent homicide. The 46-year-old was not always able to control his actions because of his drug use. However, the expert report contradicts this, which is why the public prosecutor assumes that he knew what he was doing.
The defense also demanded that the defendant be placed in a rehabilitation center.
Koblenz
Defendant was in prison murder trial against nurse – intensive care of Winninger ALS patient under the influence of drugs
There are serious allegations: A nurse is said to be responsible for the death of a patient in Winningen in October 2022. According to the information, he was a drug addict and had several previous convictions.
Mon.7.10.2024 6:00 p.m. SWR4 in the evening SWR4
The patient from Winningen was completely paralyzed
The public prosecutor had accused the nurse of having maliciously killed his patient in her home in Winningen in the Mayen-Koblenz district. According to their investigation, the woman was repeatedly separated from the ventilator – most recently for 17 minutes. That ultimately led to her death.
Contrary to previous instructions, the nurse also lifted the woman out of her wheelchair without the help of a second nurse and then laid her down horizontally. According to the prosecution, this was a life-threatening position for her health. As it emerged during the trial, the 46-year-old had been taking drugs at the time of the crime.
Defendant apologizes to family and friends
Before the verdict was announced, the defendant addressed his patient’s family and friends and said that he realized during the trial that he was probably responsible for her death. He wanted to apologize for that. He didn’t want her to die.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, the woman was an advanced ALS patient: she was completely paralyzed and could not breathe on her own. She could therefore only communicate through her eyes and used them to operate a computer for communication. ALS (amyotrophe Lateralsklerose) is an incurable disease of the nervous system.
What is ALS?
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a degenerative motor neuron disease in which the entire muscles are continually broken down until one can no longer move and ultimately suffocates because the respiratory muscles also stop functioning. The brain (consciousness and mind) remains fully functional and healthy.
The cause of the disease is still unknown, with the exception of the rare hereditary forms. Around 1-2 out of 100,000 people develop ALS every year.
