Story By: Michael Leidig, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News 

A Polish carer has appeared in court accused of being one of the worst serial killers in German history after he allegedly used insulin injections to murder people he was supposed to care for.

The now 38-year-old was the carer for at least 68 elderly people in Germany between 2015 and 2018, with most of those having lived in the southern state of Bavaria.

The man, identified only by his first name and initials as Grzegorz W. because of local privacy laws, was finally caught after a massive row with the last of his alleged victims, an 87-year-old who lived in Ottobrunn near Munich.

According to local media, he is one of the worst serial killers in German history.

The OAP, who was not named, had called the police because the Polish man was so aggressive, and they checked his ID card and found that he had previously been questioned about theft.

He was released and decided to leave the area, but not before allegedly returning to the home of the elderly man on 24th February 2018, at the height of the local carnival festivities, and in a night-time attack injecting him with a massive dose of insulin.

Police found the accused was entitled to have insulin because he was suffering from type II diabetes.

As his victim fell into a coma, he had allegedly broken into a locked study in the house where he found 1,230 EUR (1,054 GBP) as well as a debit card and jewellery before pressing the alarm in the house which had been set up to allow the man to call an ambulance if he got into difficulty. By this time, though, the OAP was already dead.

He was caught because a doctor became suspicious about puncture wounds on the body, and Grzegorz W. was arrested the same day.

He is now on trial in Munich this week accused of six murders, three attempted murders and three cases of causing grievous bodily harm, plus theft and robbery all across the country.

The trial, which begins today (Tuesday), heard that he would inject them using an insulin pen, which is easier to use than a conventional syringe, and which is used by 95 percent of insulin patients in the Western world.

The prosecutors allege that he acted in order to cover up his crimes and also on occasion simply because he wanted to move on without having to bother to give notice.

For example, in April 2017 he was hired to be the caregiver for a 77-year-old in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein where he planned to use this as a base to rob neighbouring properties.

But he found that one of the neighbouring apartments had a constant stream of mechanics coming and going in a business based there, and he also objected to the fact that he had to get up several times a night to look after the old man.

He wanted to leave and wanted to sleep all night, and instead of giving the two weeks notice, he had allegedly injected the victim with insulin resulting in the man dying of hypoglycaemia. He then went back to Poland after allegedly stealing cleaning supplies, toilet paper and perfume.

Two of his alleged victims even allegedly died because he discovered there was no Internet in the house.

The alleged killer had been working in Germany since May 2015 where he hired himself out as a home-based 24-hour care nurse mainly through Polish and Slovak agencies operating in Germany.

The court heard he had numerous convictions in his home country for theft of property, and after his final release in 2014 he had then moved to Germany.

One of the cases, in early 2017, involved a woman who had complained to police in Essen that her 91-year-old father might have been given an overdose of insulin.

However, they were lukewarm to the idea and did not even question the accused man until his arrest the following year. As a result, three police officers were suspended and two others transferred to other areas.

The trial is expected to last until May next year, with 39 days put aside.

The ViralTab page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.