Nurse jailed for life for killing of five babies and attempted murder of eight others at hospital in Argentina
Brenda Cecilia Aguero injected her victims with potassium and insulin stolen from emergency medical carts where there was no inventory control.
The healthy babies were found dead at the neonatal ward of the maternity and child hospital in Cordoba province, 370 miles northwest of Buenos Aires, between March and June 2022. Eight others survived due to swift medical intervention.
Under Argentine law, Aguero will not be eligible for parole before serving 35 years.
The babies, all born healthy, died under initially unexplained circumstances at the neonatal ward of the maternity and child hospital in Cordoba province, 370 miles (600 km) northwest of Buenos Aires.
The Argentine trial also brought charges against 10 other defendants, including former provincial officials and health professionals for cover-up and dereliction of duty.
Those charged included a former health minister and secretary of health of Cordoba province, as well as the former hospital director.
Aguero, who was arrested in 2022, denied the charges, earlier telling the court 'they have no evidence' and accusing media of portraying her as a 'serial killer.'
Judge Patricia Soria, who presided over the case, shed tears as she read a statement of thanks to jurors at the end of the trial.
Aguero was promptly led from the courtroom in handcuffs and transferred to Bouwer Prison near Cordoba following the conclusion of the trial this wee.
Earlier, prosecutors had argued that Aguero was motivated by career ambitions, according to local outlet Infobae.
She was said to have harmed the babies to be the first to detect their symptoms, raise the alarm, and impress her superiors in hopes of being promoted from the obstetrics ward to the neonatal unit.
But the spate of sudden deaths and disturbing symptoms among the babies raised suspicions.
Of the 13 victims examined, many bore unexplained puncture marks in areas not typically used for injections.
Several had potassium and or insulin levels in their blood incompatible with life, which experts said could only have resulted from external injection, according to Infobae.
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