Slovak "Angel of Death" sentenced to 20 years in jail

Bratislava District Court in Slovakia on Wednesday convicted male nurse Jaroslav Dobias of murdering a hospital patient in June 2011 and sentenced him to 20 years in prison.

The young man, described by the media as the "Angel of Death", was convicted of administering a lethal combination of drugs to a 63-year-old female patient at Kramare Hospital in the capital of Slovakia.

Testimonies by witnesses and court-appointed experts proved that the man, aged 29 in June 2011, willfully committed the act, albeit with the intention of easing the patient's pain.

Dobias himself initially confessed to this, but his attorney said the defendant had made the confession under police coercion and with no advocate present.

Dobias later said that he wanted to administer a pain-reliever to the patient but ended up giving her a lethal combination of medications by mistake.

According to the verdict, he was well aware that the injection containing the drugs Ebrantil and Esmeron would result in heart failure. "The Senate is of the opinion that after many years of practice, the defendant couldn't have mistaken the medication," said the chairman of the Senate.

The advocate of Dobias has appealed against Wednesday's ruling and the case is now heading back to Bratislava Regional Court.