Dental anaesthetist 'killed girl, 4, by deliberately giving her out of date sedative'

Dr Gerald Wimmer, a dental anaesthestist, gave four-year-old Emilia in Germany an out-of-date sedative leading to sepsis and then delayed her being taken to hospital, a court heard

A dental anaesthetist accused of killing a young girl after dosing her with an out-of-date sedative is facing life behind bars, a court has heard.

Medic Dr Gerald Wimmer had treated four-year-old victim Emilia at a surgery in Kronberg, Germany, with his mobile anaesthetic service. But, Frankfurt Regional Court heard, the 67-year-old doctor deliberately used contaminated sedatives triggering deadly sepsis.

Emilia died in agony in September 2021 while she was still in the dentist's surgery after calculating Wimmer deliberately delayed her admission to hospital, said prosecutors. Three other children who had been jabbed with the same anaesthetic also fell seriously ill. Again the medic did not send them to hospital immediately because he feared being caught, the court heard.

Their lives were only saved when they were finally treated in hospital and, the court was told, Emilia would also have survived if she had received treatment in time. The medic, said prosecutors, had deliberately delayed treatment because he knew the longer he waited, the less likely it was that his contaminated anaesthetic would be found.

Wimmer, accused of murder by omission and attempted murder, told the court he had only tried to save Emilia's life. But judges heard how he had told the horrified dentist operating on Emilia that "she should not make a big fuss". Prosecutors said: "This says everything about his wanting to cover it up. The silence brought him time." The court heard that Wimmer had made appalling surgical hygiene lapses during the treatment of the children - using a single one-use ampule of propofol for all of them.

He also re-used single-use disposable syringes, the court heard. During the trial, the doctor's lawyer read out a half-hearted apology saying only: "I must have made mistakes in hygiene without knowing." During the trial, it emerged that the medic was responsible for the death of a patient in Mannheim in 2019.

He is said to have put a middle-aged woman under general anaesthesia and not properly monitored her vital functions. When the woman collapsed in the surgery, he called the emergency doctor but far too late to save her. Wimmer has already agreed to pay 20,000 euros compensation to Emilia's heartbroken family.

Prosecutors have demanded a life jail sentence and a lifetime ban on him from practising as a doctor or anaesthetist. Judges are expected to announce their verdict at a hearing on November 1.