The public prosecutor's office accuses a former geriatric nurse of bodily harm and abuse. He is said to have pressed a pillow on the face of a home resident. Now the court has to decide whether to go to trial.
Regensburg/Cham (dpa/lby) - A nursing assistant sees a colleague pressing a pillow on a senior's face. The police arrested the 24-year-old. The investigators then check deaths in the home and have bodies exhumed. Now the public prosecutor's office has brought charges against the young man for dangerous bodily harm and mistreatment of wards in one case. The suspicions in the other cases were not substantiated.
According to the prosecution, the geriatric nurse is said to have pressed a pillow on the face of a 68-year-old resident in a nursing home in Cham in the Upper Palatinate in February until he turned red. When a nursing assistant entered the room, he let go of the victim. According to the public prosecutor's office, the victim suffered no permanent injuries.
Originally, the public prosecutor's office and the criminal police had investigated on suspicion of attempted manslaughter against the 24-year-old. Now the prosecution is assuming in his favor that he voluntarily withdrew from any attempted killing. He ended the attack on the senior when his colleague spoke to him and without her having to physically intervene. The nursing home released the man.
In the course of the investigation, the investigators checked about 15 deaths in the retirement home. In February and April, they had the bodies of two former residents and one former resident exhumed and forensically examined. In none of the cases investigated have the suspicions been substantiated, according to the public prosecutor.
The suspect is currently being held in a district hospital due to mental health issues. According to the public prosecutor's office, he was possibly only partially responsible for the crime. During the investigation, the suspect stated that he could remember fragments of the crime and that he had had a dropout. The Regional Court of Regensburg must now decide whether to go to trial.
