Newsletter Newsletters Events Events Podcasts Videos Africanews
Loader
Advertisement

German man sentenced for putting poison in his colleagues' sandwiches

The defendant covered up his face in court with a folder
The defendant covered up his face in court with a folder Copyright  The defendant covered up his face in court with a folder AP
Copyright The defendant covered up his face in court with a folder
By Angela Barnes
Published on
Share this article Comments
Share this article Close Button

A German man has been sentenced to life in prison after he was caught on video putting poison in the sandwiches of his colleagues.

ADVERTISEMENT

A man in Germany has received a life sentence for putting poison in his colleagues' sandwiches, leaving one in a coma and two others with serious kidney damage.

The 57-year-old, named only as Klaus O, was arrested in May last year after he was caught on video at a metal fittings company where he worked, in the town of Schloß Holte-Stukenbrock.

When police searched his home they found a makeshift laboratory and a substance that the judge described as "more dangerous than all combat agents used in World War II". Chemicals found included cadmium, lead and mercury.

Klaus O refused to speak during the trial and his motives remain unclear. Prosecutors believe he wanted to see his colleagues’ physical decline.

German news agency DPA quoted judge Georg Zimmermann saying the court considered the crimes to be as serious as homicide.

Zimmermann ordered that Kalus O remained in prison after completing the life sentence because he remains a danger to the public.

The defendant’s lawyers plan to appeal.

Go to accessibility shortcuts
Share this article Comments

Read more

Social media rife with conspiracy theories after 16 candidates die ahead of German local elections

Russian spy drones over Germany: Why the Bundeswehr cannot shoot them down

Germany leads joint military drills in the Baltic Sea amid Russia threat fears