Life sentence for Piombino's murderous nurse

The murderous nurse from Piombino has been sentenced to life in prison. She had been convicted of murder in the first instance in Livorno, later acquitted, and then sentenced again in the second appeal trial held after the Supreme Court overturned her conviction.

Fausta Bonino, the nurse accused of injecting massive doses of heparin into four patients admitted to the hospital in Piombino (Livorno) where she worked, causing their deaths, is still serving a life sentence. The Court of Assizes of Appeal of Florence, after almost an hour of deliberation, accepted the request of Attorney General Fabio Origlio who had asked for the maximum sentence.

Result of the appeal process

The woman, next to her husband and the defense attorney Vinicio Nardo, remained impassive as the verdict was read. “I didn’t expect it,” she then whispered, as reported by Sky, as she left courtroom 32 of the courthouse. She has always professed her innocence.

"We take note of the sentence that revives the one in Livorno - said lawyer Nardo at the end of the hearing -. We are curious to read how the motivation will be made because there are many doubts in this story, many inconsistencies, many facts that do not add up and therefore the Court of Assizes of Appeal will now have the task of putting these things in order, if it succeeds we will see. We will certainly appeal to the Supreme Court. I am sorry that this ordeal that has lasted eight years is not over for you".

The case and the accusations

It was March 30, 2016 when thenurse she was arrested by the NAS Carabinieri in execution of an order from the investigating judge of Livorno on charges of having caused, between 2014 and 2015, the death of 13 patients in the intensive care unit at the hospital in Piombino, where she worked.

Deaths caused by sudden and lethal hemorrhages that, according to the investigators' hypotheses, would have been attributable to the administration of massive doses of heparin. A series of consistent clues, according to the Livorno prosecutor's office, led to the nurse as responsible for the murders: injections of the anticoagulant, presence of the nurse in the department and deaths that occurred a few hours after the administration of the drug.

The long legal battle

The woman was then released from prison 21 days after her arrest: the Florence review court revoked the measure, considering the evidence neither serious nor consistent. A decision later annulled by the Supreme Court. Of the ten deaths for which Bonino was later charged, in the first instance with an abbreviated trial she was convicted for four and acquitted for the others. On appeal she was completely acquitted, "for not having committed the crime".

Sentence partially annulled by the Court of Cassation in May of last year: the Supreme Court had confirmed the acquittal for six cases, ordering a second appeal trial for the other four. Today the new life sentence arrived.