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Wicked German Nurse gets life sentence for killing 85 patients

Serial killer, Niels Hoegel, was on Thursday sentenced to life imprisonment after a German court found him guilty of the murder of 85 patients while working as a hospital nurse.
Hoegel, 42, had admitted to killing patients with lethal injections and was already serving a life sentence after being found guilty in 2015 of murdering two people.
It seemed to me that I was death’s bookkeeper,’’ presiding Judge, Sebastian Buehrmann, said as he read out the judgment.
Hoegel initially selected his victims carefully in hospitals in the cities of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst in north-western Germany, injecting them with medication that led to heart failure or other complications between 2000 and 2005.
But his killings later became random.
Prosecutors claimed he did this so he could try to resuscitate them, motivated by boredom or a desire to impress his colleagues with his medical skills.
Noting the seriousness of the case, the court virtually ruled out release from prison after 15 years, as is usual practice in Germany.
The charge sheet originally listed 100 murders, of which Hoegel admitted 43.
He was acquitted in 15 cases
eferring to these cases, Buehrmann said of the relatives: “we leave you with doubts that are surely painful for you, but we have at this point to disappoint you.’’
Frank Brinkers lost his father, but is one of those who remained in uncertainty.
“This is very, very bitter. I’ve been through hell, and it’s difficult to bear.’’
Brinkers had hoped for final clarity, but “apparently it was not to be,’’ he said after the case was concluded.
The verdict marked the climax of a seven-month trial that drew global attention, in what is thought to be the worst serial murder case in post-war German
According to a psychological report submitted to the court in April, Hoegel showed signs of a disturbed personality, including a lack of shame, guilt, regret and empathy.
“His patients’ condition would suddenly deteriorate; alarms would go off and Hoegel was the first at the bedside to initiate life-saving treatment.
“And, he was good at it and seemed that he yearned for the acknowledgement of his colleagues,’’ the report said.
Buehrmann highlighted a case directly after Hoegel’s daughter was born, saying “soon afterwards, the nurse struck again, by manipulating his patient’s medication.’’
“You wanted to hang on to that feeling of happiness, by sending another person to their death,’’ the judge said.
The killing spree ended in 2005 when another nurse caught him in the act of injecting medication that had not been prescribed into a patient.
In his final words to the court on Wednesday, Hoegel asked for forgiveness from the relatives of his victims, saying that the trial on his “terrible crimes’’ had brought him much suffering.
His defence team asked for 55 murders to be considered and 14 attempted murders, calling for acquittal in 31 cases, while prosecutors saw murder proved in 97 cases.
Three other charges failed on grounds of lack of evidence
The Nation
Business
Tax Reform Bills: The Verdict of Nigerians

Ismaila Ahmad Abdullahi Ph.D
The public hearings conducted recently by the two Chambers of the National Assembly have elicited positive responses from a broad spectrum of Nigerians, cutting across regional interest groups, government agencies, civil society groups, concerned individuals, the academia, and Labour Unions, among diverse others. Contrary to a few dissensions hitherto expressed in the media, almost all the stakeholders who spoke during the week-long sessions were unanimous in their declaration that the hallowed Chambers should pass the tax reform bills after a clean-up of the grey areas.
The public hearings were auspicious for all Nigerians desirous of economic growth and fiscal responsibility. They were also a watershed moment for the Federal Inland Revenue Service, which had been upbeat about the tax reforms. Indeed, the public hearings had rekindled hope in the tenets of democracy that guarantee freedom of expression and equitable space for cross-fertilisation of ideas. Without gainsaying the fact, the tax reform bills have been unarguably about the most thought-provoking issues in Nigeria today, drawing variegated perspectives and commentaries from even unlikely quarters such as the faith-based leaders, student bodies, and trade unions, which speaks much about the importance of the bills.
In the build-up to the public hearings, not many people believed that the bills would make it to the second reading, much less the public hearings. Even the Northern stakeholders who seemed unlikely to support the passage of the bills have softened their stance and have given valuable suggestions that would enrich the substance of the bills. The Arewa Consultative Forum came to the public hearings well-prepared with a printed booklet that addressed their concerns. It concluded with an advisory that the bills should be “Well planned, properly communicated, strategically implemented and ample dialogue and political consensus allowed for the reforms to be accepted.”
The concerns of ACF ranged from the composition of the proposed Nigeria Revenue Service Board as contained in Part 111, Section 7 of the bill, the unlimited Presidential power to exempt/wave tax payment as proposed in Section 75(1) of the bill, the family income or inheritance tax as contained in Part 1, Section 4(3) of the bill, to the issues around development levy and VAT. On the development levy, the ACF stated that unless the Federal Government is considering budgetary funding for TETFUND, NASENI and NITDA, it does not see the “wisdom behind the plan to replace (them) with NELFUND”.
The position of the North was equally reinforced by the Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria, Northern Elders Forum, Kano State Government, Professor Auwalu Yadudu, and the FCT Imams. Like the ACF, these stakeholders lent their respective voices to the Section on the Inheritance Tax in Part 1 of the bill and the use of the term ‘ecclesiastical’, which, in their views, undermines certain religious rights and beliefs. The Kano State Government, represented by Mahmud Sagagi, affirmed that “we support tax modernisation” but cautioned that “we must ensure that this process does not come at the expense of states’ constitutional rights and economic stability”. Professor Auwalu Yadudu, a constitutional law professor, drew attention to the use of the ‘supremacy clause’ and cautioned that the repeated use of “notwithstanding” in the bills would undermine the supremacy of the Nigerian constitution if passed as such.
Other stakeholders that made contributions at the sessions included the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria, Nigeria Customs Service, and a host of others. While most of their concerns bordered on technical issues requiring fine-tuning, they were unanimous in their support for the bills. They aligned with the position of the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Zacch Adedeji, Ph.D. and the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, which is that the extant tax laws and fiscal regulations are obsolete necessitating reforms aimed at creating a fair and equitable tax and fiscal space to grow Nigeria’s economy.
In one of the sessions, Dr Zaach Adedeji expounded on the criss-cross of trade activities in the Free Trade Zone whereby companies misuse tax waivers as exporters to sell their goods or services in the Customs Area at an amount usually less than the price the operators in the Customs Area who pay VAT and other taxes sell theirs thereby disrupting business transactions. This way, the operators in the Free Trade Zone shortchange the government in paying their due taxes by circumventing extant regulations, which are inimical to the economy’s growth.
Overall, the presentations were forthright, foresighted, and helpful in elucidating the issues contained in the bills. According to the statistics read out at the end of the hearings at the Senate, 75 stakeholders were invited, 65 made submissions, and 61 made presentations. At the House of Representatives 53 stakeholders made presentations. By all means, this is a fair representation. Given the presentations, it is evident that the National Assembly has gathered enough materials to guide its deliberations on the bills. As we look forward to the passage of the bills, we commend the leadership of the National Assembly for their unwavering commitment to making the bills see the light of the day.
Abdullahi is the Director of the Communications and Liaison Department, FIRS.
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