A Japanese Nurse has been sentenced to life imprisonment for having intentionally infected several patients by mixing an antiseptic solution into their IV drip bags at a Yokohama hospital near Tokyo in 2016.
Three patients were contaminated during intravenous infusions with disinfectant.
The Japanese nurse who have since been dismissed, and identified as 34-year-ol Ayumi Kuboki, appeared before the Japanese courts on Tuesday and was sentenced to life in prison, according to local media.
During her trial, Ayumi Kuboki admitted to killing patients in their 70s and 80s five years ago, in a case that shocked Japan. She previously told police she may have killed 20 people in just two months, but then told prosecutors she couldn’t comment on that during the trial.
The Death Penalty hypothesis
The judge presiding over the Yokohama District Court said he had considered sentencing the Japanese Nurse Ayumi Kuboki to the death penalty, state broadcaster NHK added. Prosecutors had requested the death penalty for Ayumi Kuboki, but the nurse’s defence allegedly argued that she suffered from depression due to stress caused by the deaths of her patients and that her abilities were impaired.
“She said she regretted (her actions) and wanted to pay for her crime, There is a chance that she will make amends, and I couldn’t help but hesitate to choose the punishment of death, ”the judge said.
Ayumi Kukobi told the court that she did not want to be blamed by her family members when something bad happened to her patients while on duty, and that she felt “relieved” when one of the victims died, according to NHK.
With around 100 inmates on death row, Japan is one of the few industrialized countries to continue to apply the death penalty by hanging. Support for the death penalty remains strong in the archipelago despite international criticism, including from human rights organizations.