Ex-nurse gets 15-year sentence for 4 murders in German home

A former nurse has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing four residents of a residential home for disabled people in Potsdam, just outside Berlin, reported dpa.

In addition, the Potsdam Regional Court on Wednesday ordered the accused to be placed in a psychiatric hospital. The accused is guilty of four counts of murder and several counts of attempted murder, as well as abuse of a ward, the First Criminal Division ruled. The judgement is not yet final.

The accused urgently needed medical help because of her mental condition, presiding Judge Theodor Horstkoetter said explaining the verdict.

If the 52-year-old had gone to the doctor on the day of the attack - as would have been the right thing to do - the victims could still be alive and would not have died "in such a cruel way," Horstkoetter said.

According to a psychiatric report, the woman suffers from a severe personality disorder and had committed the acts in a state of significantly reduced culpability.

The court considered it proven that, on the evening of April 28, the woman had attacked and fatally injured four residents aged between 31 and 56 in their rooms in the dormitory of the social welfare organization Oberlinhaus. A 43-year-old resident survived the attack after emergency surgery.

In her closing statement, the accused apologized to the relatives of the victims and she said she was sorry.