November 5, 2025, 12:52 p.mNovember 5, 2025, 12:52 p.m
A German court has sentenced a nurse to life imprisonment for ten counts of murder and 27 counts of attempted murder. The Aachen regional court was convinced that he had administered lethal injections to patients in a palliative care ward.
The accused denied the allegations. (symbol image)Image: keystone
The court noted the particular gravity of the guilt. This means that release after 15 years is generally impossible. With the verdict, the court followed the prosecutor’s request.
The nurse was originally charged with nine murders and 34 attempts, but the court now viewed another crime as a completed homicide.
The defendant committed the crimes between December 2023 and May 2024 in a clinic in Würselen near Aachen – near Germany’s borders with the Netherlands and Belgium. Accordingly, he administered sedative medication to seriously ill patients on his own initiative, sometimes in combination with painkillers.
The defendant denied the crimes
According to the prosecution, the motive was that he wanted to sedate the patients in order to have as little work as possible during his night shifts. The 44-year-old German denied the allegations. He said in the trial that has been ongoing since March that he did not administer any medication with the aim of shortening lives. His defense lawyers had called for an acquittal.
The nurse may have committed more crimes. The investigators are currently examining a number of other suspected cases from his earlier years of employment. The Aachen public prosecutor’s office has already announced that it will probably file further charges against the man.
Prosecutors assume there will be more murders
After the evidence was taken, the public prosecutor assumed in his plea that 13 murders had been completed.
The case of ex-nurse Niels Högel is considered the largest series of murders in German post-war history to date. He was sentenced to life in prison in 2019 for 85 murders. His motive for the crimes remained unclear. (sda/dpa)