BERLIN: German nurse Niels Hoegel, already serving a lengthy term for previous killings, will go on trial before anguished relatives Tuesday over the murders of around 100 more people — a spree prosecutors say is unprecedented in the post-war period.
The 41-year-old is accused of intentionally administering medical overdoses to patients in his care in order to be able to bring them back to life at the last moment.
He rarely succeeded.
Prosecutors say at least 35 patients were killed at a hospital in the northern city of Oldenburg where he worked, and about 64 more in nearby Delmenhorst, between 2000 and 2005.
“I hope that he will be found guilty on each count so that the loved ones can finally find some closure,” said Petra Klein, who runs the local chapter of the victims’ aid group Weisser Ring.
Some 126 relatives will serve as co-plaintiffs in the new trial and are expected to fill the specially designated courtroom in Oldenburg, along with around 80 journalists.
For the accused — who fellow inmates say calls himself the most notorious criminal in Germany since the war — little will change.
“This investigation is really out of the ordinary,” said Arne Schmidt, director of the probe codenamed “Kardio” and created in 2014.
“We had to conduct 134 exhumations” of patients who died on Hoegel’s watch, Schmidt told AFP, calling the case “unprecedented in Germany to our knowledge.”
As the scope of the trail of corpses emerged, the victims’ loved ones have experienced an “incredible shock,” said Klein, whose organization has offered psychological care to the affected families.
Many “came to us because the police one day knocked on their door to inform them that their relatives may have been victims of Niels Hoegel, and that they wanted to exhume them,” she said.
It took time to build the latest, breathtakingly vast case.
Caught by surprise while injecting an unprescribed medication in a patient in 2005 in Delmenhorst, Hoegel was sentenced in 2008 to seven years in prison for attempted murder.
A second trial followed 2014-15 under pressure from alleged victims’ families, who accused prosecutors of dragging their feet.
This time he was found guilty of murder and attempted murder of five other victims and given the maximum sentence of 15 years.
It was only then that he admitted to his psychiatrist at least 30 more murders, committed in Delmenhorst. This prompted investigators to take a closer look at suspicious deaths in Oldenburg.
“We will never really be able to count” the total number of victims, said Schmidt, because so many were cremated after their deaths. Investigators put the estimated toll at more than 200.
Hoegel appears to have followed a similar procedure each time he targeted a patient: first, the injection of a medication triggering cardiac arrest, followed by an often futile resuscitation.
Prosecutors say he was motivated by vanity, to show off his skills at saving human lives entrusted to him, and simple “boredom.”
The choice of victim appears entirely random, covering ages ranging from 34 to 96.
He did not focus on people with incurable illnesses or cite “pity” as a motive — an explanation often invoked by other hospital killers such as German “angel of death” nurse Stephan Letter, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2006 for the murder of 29 people.
Psychological analyzes of Hoegel found a “severe narcissistic disorder” and a paralysing fear of his own death.
Among his victims was Christian Marbach’s grandfather who was admitted to the Delmenhorst clinic in 2003 for a routine operation.
Placed in intensive care, he survived an initial injection-resuscitation cycle at the hands of Hoegel but died during a second one days later.
“He tried twice to kill him!” Marbach said. Hoegel was sentenced for that murder in 2015.
Marbach said his fury was also directed at the hospitals that employed Hoegel and failed to check his lethal impulses.
“The murders at Delmenhorst would not have been possible without the mistakes of certain people in Oldenburg who knew what was happening,” he said.
The trial is expected to run until at least May.
Germany tries ‘serial killer’ nurse over worst post-war spree
Germany tries ‘serial killer’ nurse over worst post-war spree
- At least 35 patients were killed at a hospital in Oldenburg where he worked, and about 64 more in Delmenhorst, between 2000 and 2005
- The 41-year-old is accused of intentionally administering medical overdoses to patients
New ‘superfood’ transforms livelihoods in India’s rural east
- Known as fox nut or lotus seed, makhana is rich in protein, dietary fiber, minerals
- Most of the world’s makhana production is in Bihar, one of India’s poorest states
BIHAR: Wading through knee-deep, stagnant water, Mahesh Mukhia plunges his hands into the mud, pulling up handfuls of sludge that he and others toss into a large, partially submerged basket.
After a while, they shake the basket to drain away the water and debris. What remains is makhana — round black seeds that have lately gained popularity as India’s new superfood.
A regional Indian snack, also known as fox nut or lotus seed, makhana is the edible seed of the prickly waterlily. The plant grows in freshwater ponds and wetlands in southern and eastern Asia.
After makhana seeds are handpicked from pond beds, cleaned, and sun-dried, they are roasted at high heat so their hard black shells crack open and release the white, popcorn-like puffed kernels, which are eaten as snacks or used in dishes.
It has long been known for its nutritional value — high in plant-based protein and dietary fiber, the seeds are also rich in minerals and gluten-free — which over the past few years have helped it gain global attention and are transforming farmlands in Bihar, one of India’s poorest states.
“Earlier, people were not researching it but now, after research, makhana’s nutritional values have been highlighted. Now this is a superfood. That’s why demand is growing everywhere,” said Mahesh Mukhia, a farmer in Kapchhahi village in Bihar’s Darbhanga district, whose family has been harvesting the seeds for generations.
“The difference is that my forefathers did farming in a traditional way, but we’ve learnt to do it in a scientific way,” Mukhia told Arab News.
“There is Bhola Paswan Shastri Agricultural College in the neighboring Purnea district. I went there for training. After I started practicing farming the way I learnt, the yield increased by more than 30 percent.”
Makhana farming is highly labor-intensive, starting with the cultivation of water lilies in shallow ponds. The plants require constant monitoring as they are sensitive to water levels and pests.
Harvesting takes place between August and October. Workers pluck the seeds by hand and then dry them under the sun for several days before they can be processed.
The processing and roasting of makhana also require significant effort. The dried seeds are first de-shelled by manually cracking them, followed by multiple rounds of roasting to make them crisp.
Whole families are involved in the production, which has been expanding since 2020, when the state government introduced the Makhana Development Scheme.
Besides training in farming and processing, growers who cultivate fox nut receive $820 per hectare.
“The rate has also gone up. The makhana that we used to sell at 200-300 ($2-$3) rupees per kg is now selling at 1,000 ($12) or 1,500 rupees per kg,” Mukhia said.
“Makhana farmers are now making a profit. Those who are growing makhana are earning well, those who are popping it are also doing well, and those involved in trading are making profits too. We are getting good demand from everywhere. I just received an order for 25 tonnes recently.”
Bihar currently produces over 85 percent of India’s makhana and accounts for most of the world’s production, according to Ministry of Commerce and Industry estimates.
According to reports by the Indian Brand Equity Foundation and the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority, India accounts for roughly 85 to 90 percent of the world’s production.
Farmland where the crop is grown has increased many times over the past decade and can now be compared to the area covering half of New York City.
More than 600,000 people are involved in the makhana industry in Bihar, according to Niraj Kumar Jha, Darbhanga district’s horticulture officer.
“Earlier, we were cultivating 5,000 hectares in the Kosi and Mithlanchal regions. But now it has expanded to 35,000 hectares, and with many supportive schemes, farmers are increasingly encouraged to grow makhana,” he said.
“We are strengthening our marketing channels. We’ll reach the metro cities as well as world markets ... We can see that makhana is growing very popular, not only in India.”
