The act of a nurse caused a sensation nationwide: four people were killed and one resident was injured in a home for the disabled in Potsdam. What happened in the dormitory?
Potsdam – More than four months after the act of violence with four dead in a Potsdam dormitory for the disabled, the public prosecutor has brought charges against the suspected caregiver.
The 52-year-old woman is accused of murder in four cases and attempted murder in three cases in unity with dangerous bodily harm, as the prosecutor announced on Tuesday.
“The accused is sufficiently suspicious to have attacked five defenseless residents of the facility with intent to kill on April 28, 2021,” it said.
She is charged with insidiously killing the four people with disabilities after initially attempting to do so in two unsuccessful cases. She then attacked another resident in the Oberlinhaus with a knife, who survived the attack, seriously injured.
The accused nurse had worked there for many years. The woman is now in a psychiatric clinic. The public prosecutor’s office followed the preliminary assessment of the experts that the employee had committed the acts in a state of significantly reduced culpability, the authorities said.
Jurists speak of reduced culpability if the perpetrator’s ability to see the injustice or to act according to this insight is significantly reduced. This can be the case, for example, because of a pathological mental disorder or a profound disturbance of consciousness.
At the end of April, the four people were killed and one resident was seriously injured in the dormitory of the Oberlinhaus diaconal facility. The other accused murder attempts are said to have been directed against the same people before, according to the authority. The act had caused a stir nationwide.
The public prosecutor and the court did not want to disclose further details about the case. The indictment was brought before the jury chamber of the Potsdam district court. According to the court, it is still open when the main hearing and thus the clarification of the processes in the home will take place. However, it cannot be ruled out that negotiations will take place this year, said a court spokeswoman. dpa
