Man Who Poisoned His Coworkers’ Food For Years Will Spend The Rest Of His Life In Prison
A 57-year-old German man has been found guilty of poisoning his coworkers over a span of several years. The man, identified only as Klaus O., was caught on video surveillance depositing a strange powder into one of colleagues sandwiches. It was later discovered he’d been doing it to several other employees as well without them finding out.
On Thursday, he appeared in court in Bielefeld, Germany. After finding him guilty of attempted murder, Judge Georg Zimmermann sentenced him to life in prison, according to CBS News. This was the maximum sentence he could pass down.
Most people can relate to experiencing tension with coworkers at one time or another. But few can imagine going to these evil lengths to take their revenge. Klaus, who worked at a business in the town of Schloss Holte-Stukenbrock, had an entire chemistry laboratory hidden in the basement of his home. It was there he concocted a variety of highly dangerous substances, one of which Judge Zimmermann described as “more dangerous than all combat agents used in World War II.”
Police discovered that Klaus tampered with his colleagues lunches by poisoning them with a variety of substances including mercury, lead acetate, and cadmium. These substances were potent enough and applied often enough that they caused disastrous effects on these unknowing victims.
German man sentenced to life for poisoning co-workers. Nice guy to work with, he would poison there sandwich when ever het got the chance. He never spoke or showed any remorse at his trial. The judge said he must never be released. https://t.co/HB5ryhNeb8
— phil (@ppjkis) March 7, 2019
Both a 27-year-old man and a 67-year-old man ingested a combination of lead and cadmium at Klaus’ hands. Both men now suffer from chronic kidney damage and are at a greater risk of developing cancer. Although he is no longer a danger to the greater public, both of these individuals will deal with the consequences of Klaus’ heartless actions for the duration of their lives.
In addition, a trainee at the company, Mr. Radke, was subjected to mercury poisoning by Klaus and fell into a coma. At only 23-years-old, the individual now has permanent brain damage.
According to The New York Times, Mr. Radke noticed a strange discoloring on the sandwiches he brought from home and eventually brought them to the police to be tested. It was discovered that the sandwich contained 71,000 micrograms of lead. When asked why he didn’t lock up his lunch with the rest of his belongings upon arriving at lunch, his answer was simple yet heartbreaking.
“Nobody believes that a colleague does something like that. Because everyone trusts in each other.”
Although law enforcement is still trying to determine the full extent of Klaus’ motives, they believe he wanted to watch his colleagues health deteriorate over time.
