A man in Germany has died after a co-worker poisoned his packed lunch with mercury and other substances.
The 26-year-old was left in a coma for four years after his food was spiked at the metal fittings company where he worked, with a state court in Bielefeld confirming his death on Thursday.
Two other employees at ARI Armaturen, who had their food poisoned over the course of several years, were left with serious kidney damage.
A German man, identified only as “Klaus O” under local reporting laws, was sentenced to life in prison for attempted murder in March 2019 after he was caught on CCTV putting powder in a colleague’s sandwich.
The surveillance equipment was installed at the company after an employee opened their sandwich and found white powder inside. The same equipment later captured footage of Mr O taking his colleagues’ sandwiches out of their bags, sprinkling powder in them and putting them back.
Police searched Mr O's home and found substances including cadmium, lead and mercury.
Following the discovery, authorities announced a probe into all deaths related to the company from 2000 onwards – with a total of 21 employees at ARI Armaturen in the town of Schloss Holte-Stukenbrock dying before retirement age of conditions including heart attacks.
“There were a strikingly high number of heart attacks and cancers among the death cases in the company,” police said at the time, confirming a probe into the deaths over fears they were related to the poisoning.
Testimony from a psychologist in the case suggested Mr O “seemed to me like a scientist who was testing substances on a guinea pig,” Deutsche Welle reported at the time.
Ahead of the trial, which saw Mr O say very little other than that he supported the remarks of his defence, an attorney for one of the poisoning victims said the colleagues who were poisoned did not have any particular issues with the defendant prior to the poisoning taking place.
“There was a relationship of trust between colleagues like in any other company; nobody expected anything like this,” the attorney told DW.
“Klaus O, a trained toolmaker, was considered technically experienced and helped his colleagues. Otherwise, he generally avoided them. There were no conversations about private matters over a cup of coffee, but there weren't many quarrels either."
