AACHEN, Germany (AFP) — A German court on Wednesday ordered a life jail sentence to a palliative care nurse for the murder of 10 patients and attempted murder of 27 others with lethal injections.

The court in the western city of Aachen found the 44-year-old man guilty of the offenses committed between December 2023 and May 2024 in a hospital in Wuerselen near Aachen. 

The court also determined that the offenses carried a “particular severity of guilt” which should bar him from early release after 15 years, normally an option in such cases.

The man, who has not been publicly named, was accused by prosecutors of playing “master of life and death” over those in his care. His defense had demanded an acquittal at the trial which began in March. 

Prosecutors said he injected the mostly elderly patients with large doses of sedatives or painkillers, with the simple aim of reducing his workload during night shifts.

They told the court the man suffered from a personality disorder, had never shown any compassion for the patients and had voiced no remorse during the trial.

The court was told that the nurse used morphine and midazolam, a muscle relaxant sometimes used for executions in the United States.