A former nurse has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing four residents of a residential home for persons living with disability in Potsdam, just outside Berlin.

In addition, the Potsdam Regional Court on Wednesday ordered that the accused be placed in a psychiatric hospital.

The accused was found guilty on four counts of murder and several counts of attempted murder, as well as abuse of a ward, the First Criminal Division ruled.

The judgment is not yet final.

Presiding Judge Theodor Horstkoetter said the convict urgently needed medical help because of her mental condition.

He held that if the 52-year-old had gone to the doctor on the day of the attack, as this would have been the right thing to do, the victims could still be alive and would not have died “in such a cruel way.”

According to a psychiatric report, the woman suffers from a severe personality disorder and had committed the acts in a state of significantly reduced culpability.

The court considered it proven that, on the evening of April 28, the woman had attacked and fatally injured four residents aged between 31 and 56 in their rooms in the dormitory of the social welfare organisation Oberlinhaus.

A 43-year-old resident survived the attack after emergency surgery.

Meanwhile, in her closing statement, the accused apologised to the relatives of the victims and said that she was sorry.