Case concludes of nursing assistant accused of nine murders

German prosecutors concluded their case today against a nursing assistant accused of killing nine women at a retirement home, saying she deserved life in prison.

The defendant, identified only as Michaela G, is alleged to have killed the women, aged between 79 and 93, between November 2003 and April 2005 at the nursing home in western Germany. Most were allegedly suffocated with cushions or towels.

She is accused of four counts of murder, four of manslaughter and one of mercy killing.

A lawyer for the 27-year-old woman argued for her acquittal, saying there was no concrete evidence she was guilty.

“No one can say first hand that she killed nine people,” Martin Kretschmer told the Bonn state court.

The woman confessed to the killings during police interrogation, but later retracted her confession, saying only that she was present when they passed away.

“I killed nobody,” she said today.

Prosecutor Michael Hermesmann said, however, he doubted her testimony.

“She’s simply looking for another way out of prison,” he said.

The court is expected to reach a verdict on February 22.

In a separate trial on similar charges that began last week, a nurse at a Bavarian hospital was accused over the deaths of 29 patients, most of whom were elderly.