A DUTCH nurse who served more than six years of a life sentence for allegedly murdering seven patients as a serial killer was exonerated on Wednesday, and the country's attorney general personally apologized for her ordeal.
The ruling ended a bizarre legal odyssey during which the country's judicial system - right up to the Supreme Court - interpreted evidence wrongly, including statistics, autopsy results, and the nurse's diaries.
'I'll have to let it sink in a little while,' a beaming Lucy de Berk told reporters after the verdict clearing her of all charges was read. The nurse is now a free woman and will receive a financial settlement from the government.
Looking back on the complex case, doubts were present from the time of the original verdict, but the forensic evidence in the patients' deaths wasn't seriously re-examined until a group of legal experts lobbied on Ms De Berk's behalf. Ms De Berk, now 49, was released from prison in 2008 pending a retrial after an extraordinary review of her conviction - which had been upheld by the country's Supreme Court.
During last month's retrial, prosecutors conceded the evidence they had used to build their original case was flawed and that they were not flexible enough after they became convinced of Ms De Berk's guilt early on in her case. That led to Wednesday's ruling, during which the Arnhem Appeals Court found that none of the deaths in which Ms De Berk had once been implicated were even definitely unnatural.
Attorney General Harm Brouwers said he wanted to restore Ms De Berk's reputation. 'I've offered my apologies for what happened to her,' Mr Brouwers said, adding that the ministry was negotiating a financial settlement with her lawyers.
- sitiemilia , Singapore.
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