Canadian nurse pleads guilty to killing eight patients with insulin overdose

A former nurse has pleaded guilty on Thursday (1 June) to first-degree murder in the deaths of eight nursing home residents in her care.

Elizabeth Wettlaufer, 49, also pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault and four counts of attempted murder. Wettlaufer appeared in a Woodstock, Ontario courtroom on Thursday (1 June) and admitted to murdering eight elderly people and injuring six others by injecting them with insulin with the intent to kill.

According to CBC, she told Justice Bruce Thomas that she acted partially because she felt angry with her career and her responsibilities in life.

"You knew this could be fatal?" Thomas asked Wettlaufer, CBC reported.

"Yes, your honour," she replied.

Prosecutors said that growing rage over her job and her life escalated until Wettlaufer felt an "urge to kill". She claimed those feelings would only go away when she overdosed her victims. She confirmed that she was not intoxicated by drugs or alcohol during the incidents, which spanned from 2007 to 2014.

A police investigation began in September 2016 after Toronto police were alerted to concerning information Wettlaufer had given to a psychiatric hospital. She was arrested and formally charged in October 2016.

The incidents took place in three Ontario long-term care facilities where Wettlaufer worked as a registered nurse, as well as a private home. According to The Associated Press, many of the victims had dementia. They ranged in age from 75 to 96, NPR reported.

Andrea Silcox, daughter of Wettlaufer's first victim 84-year-old James Silcox, said she was relieved that the guilty plea would likely speed up the trial. "I will forgive her, I have to forgive her...my father would want that," she told The AP. "Forget" I will never forget what happened."