Around two and a half years after the verdict against the serial killer Niels Högel, his crimes are again at stake. This time, however, the question is completely different: Högel’s former superiors are accused.
Oldenburg – Because of the murders of ex-nurse Niels Högel, seven managers and employees at the Oldenburg and Delmenhorst clinics have to answer in court.
They are charged with varying degrees of homicide, attempted homicide or aiding and abetted homicide, each by failing to do so. The Oldenburg district court wants to clarify whether they may be partly to blame because they took notice of the crimes but did not pass them on adequately. 42 days of negotiations are scheduled for the process. The case against another defendant was separated for health reasons.
Högel was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2019 for 85 murders. The series of crimes began in 2000 in the Oldenburg Clinic and ended in 2005 in the Delmenhorst Clinic. The trial against the ex-supervisors is specifically about eight cases for which Högel has already been convicted: three murders in the Oldenburg Clinic and three murders and two attempted murders in Delmenhorst. Högel was sentenced for six murders in 2019 and for the two attempted murders in 2006 and 2015.
Independent Negotiations
The verdict against Högel is final – but the allegations against his ex-bosses must be heard in court independently. The presumption of innocence applies to the accused. These are defended by 18 lawyers. As in the trial against Högel in 2019, the so-called large festival hall of the Weser-Ems-Halle serves as the courtroom.
At that time the hall offered space for 200 spectators, this time there will be a maximum of 65 due to the corona. As in 2019, the presiding judge is called Sebastian Bührmann. Högel is also summoned as a witness. He is initially scheduled to testify on the third day of the trial (March 1).
Högel injected his victims with drugs to death. He first committed his crimes at the Oldenburg Clinic. In 2002 he moved to the Delmenhorst Clinic with a job reference, where he continued to murder.
Four of the accused worked at the Oldenburg Clinic and three in Delmenhorst. For reasons of procedural economy, the jury decided to combine the two initially separate proceedings.
The defendants from Oldenburg must answer for accessory to manslaughter by omission, those from Delmenhorst for manslaughter or attempted manslaughter by omission. However, the chamber indicated that the accused from Delmenhorst could only be criminally liable for aiding and abetting. dpa
