Buenos Aires, Argentina

A nurse was sentenced to life in prison for killing five babies and attempting to murder eight others at a hospital in Argentina, according to local media.

Brenda Cecilia Aguero injected potassium and insulin into newborns between March and June 2022, taking doses from emergency medical carts without inventory control, prosecutors said.

Under Argentine law, Aguero will not be eligible for parole before serving 35 years.

The court clerk read out the sentencing in footage broadcast on local media on Wednesday.

The babies, all born healthy, died under initially unexplained circumstances at the neonatal ward of the maternal and child hospital in Cordoba province, 370 miles (600 km) northwest of Buenos Aires.

Eight others survived due to swift medical intervention.

The trial also brought charges against 10 other defendants including former provincial officials and health professionals for cover-up and dereliction of duty.

Those charged included a former health minister and secretary of health of Cordoba province, as well as the former hospital director.

Aguero, who was arrested in 2022, denied the charges, earlier telling the court "they have no evidence" and accusing media of portraying her as a "serial killer."

Of the other defendants, five were found guilty but received lesser sentences while five others were acquitted, including the former provincial officials, according to local outlet Infobae.

mry/cjc/abs/ecl

© Agence France-Presse