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CRIME

Nurse jailed for life for serial patient murders

A male nurse who injected patients with overdoses of heart medication for the thrill of resuscitating them was on Thursday sentenced to life imprisonment on five counts of murder.

Nurse jailed for life for serial patient murders
Niels H. in court. The five murder counts against the former nurse may just be the start. Photo: DPA
A week after 38-year-old Neils H. told the Oldenburg state court he was “truly sorry” for what he had done, he was jailed on five counts of murder with no possibility of release in his lifetime.
 
It was not excluded that he will be tried for further murders if investigations reveal more evidence against him.
 
Detectives were looking into more than 200 deaths during the man's service in Delmenhorst, Oldenburg and Wilhelmshaven in the Bremen area in Lower Saxony.
 
The man admitted that between 2003 and 2005 he had administered excessive doses of medications to 90 patients, 30 of whom he said he had been unable to revive.
 
But he claims that he did not harm any patients outside the Delmenhorst Clinic.
 
“There was excitement and a sense of expectation for what would happen,” he said of his motivation to take people to the brink of death and try to haul them back again.
 
Successful revivals of patients whose hearts had stopped made him feel good, he added.
 
A special investigation team will exhume up to twelve more former patients in the coming weeks for examination for traces of the same medication.
 
Niels H. had already been jailed for a similar crime in 2008 and served most of a seven and a half year sentence.
 
 

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CRIME

Berlin’s former mayor injured amid spate of attacks on German politicians

Berlin's former mayor Franziska Giffey suffered light injuries after being hit on the head with a bag as police investigate a series of attacks on politicians in Germany.

Berlin's former mayor injured amid spate of attacks on German politicians

Giffey, who is currently Berlin’s senator for economic affairs, was assaulted at a library in the district of Rudow on Tuesday afternoon, police said on Wednesday. 

The suspect attacked Giffey “from behind with a bag filled with hard contents and hit her on the head and neck”. police said in a statement.

Giffey, who is a member of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), was briefly treated in hospital for “head and neck pain”, said police. 

Berlin’s current mayor Kai Wegner condemned the assault on Giffey, saying anyone who attacks politicians are “attacking our democracy”.

“We will not tolerate this,” he said, vowing to examine “tougher sentences for attacks against politicians”.

It comes amid a spate of attacks on politicians in the run up to the European elections next month. 

Less than three hours later in the eastern city of Dresden, there was another attack on a Green Party politician while the conference of interior ministers was meeting at the same time.

Police said the victim was a 47-year-old woman who was threatened and spat on. 

The politician was putting up campaign posters for the European elections when a man came up, pushed her to the side and tore down two posters.

The man insulted and threatened the politician, while a woman joined in and spat on the victim, police said.

Both suspects were arrested, police said, identifying them as a 34-year-old German man and a 24-year-old woman.

S-Bahn in Dresden

A train drives through Dresden, which has seen two attacks on politicians recently. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Robert Michael

Both were in a group who were standing at the area and who had begun making the banned Hitler salute when the politician began hanging up posters.

The suspects were arrested, police said, identifying them as a 34-year-old German man and a 24-year-old woman.

Last Friday, a European parliament lawmaker, also of the SPD, was seriously injured by four attackers last week as he put up EU election posters – also in Dresden.

Matthias Ecke, 41, needed an operation for serious injuries sustained in the attack, which was denounced by Scholz as a threat to democracy.

READ ALSO: Teenager turns self in after attack on German politician 

The incidents have sparked a debate in Germany over the safety of politicians and how best to deal with the violence. 

Berlin interior senator Iris Spranger (SPD), said on X: “I strongly condemn the attack on Franziska Giffey and on other politicians and election workers, all of whom are committed to a democratic debate.”

According to provisional police figures, 2,790 crimes were committed against politicians in Germany in 2023, up from 1,806 the previous year, but fewer than the 2,840 recorded in 2021, when legislative elections took place.

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