'Killer nurse' decision due today

Wednesday 17 March 2010

The public prosecution department will today announce whether it still considers nurse Lucia de Berk guilty of killing a number of patients in her care.

De Berk, officially the Netherlands worst serial killer, was jailed for life in 2006 for murdering seven patients and the attempted murder of three more.

But she was freed in April 2008 following serious doubts about her guilt and pending a new investigation. De Berk has always protested her innocence.

The conviction was largely based on statistics and disputed evidence of poisoning rather than actual evidence.

Wednesday's retrial was ordered by the high court in 2008.

Poisoning

Only De Berk and a toxocologist will appear. He will be questioned about De Berk's alleged murder of a baby.

Serious doubts about her conviction first arose when the central charge, the poisoning of baby Amber, was called into question.

The evidence in this particular incident led to the other charges of murder.

These patients were either very old or very sick and died as a result of 'medically unexplained' causes. And, the prosecution said at the time, De Berk was on duty 'noticeably often' when someone died.

Statisticians later joined the campaign to have De Berk freed, saying the use of statistical evidence was highly flawed.

© DutchNews.nl

Comments have been closed for this article.