BERLIN: Prosecutors said on Wednesday they charged a Berlin palliative care doctor with the murder of 15 patients, alleging he acted out of a `lust` for killing.

The 40-year-old suspect is accused of having killed 12 women and three men between September 2021 and July 2024 using a deadly cocktail of sedatives. German press reports identify the suspect as Johannes M., but prosecutors have not released a name.

The doctor allegedly `administered an anaesthetic and a muscle relaxant to his patients... without their knowledge or consent`, the Berlin prosecutor`s office said in a statement.

The relaxant `paralysed the respiratory muscles, leading to respiratory arrest and death within minutes`. The victims, who were all receiving care at the time, were aged between 25 and 94 years old.

On five occasions, prosecutors alleged that the suspect had `set fire to their apartments to cover up these killings`.

On one occasion, the suspect is accused of having killed two patients on the same day.

On the morning of July 8, 2024, he is alleged to have killed a 75-year-old man at his home in the central Berlin district of Kreuzberg. `A few hours later` he allegedly struck again, killing a 76-year-old woman in the neighbouring Neukoelln district.

The suspect`s alleged attempt to incinerate the crime scene failed when the fire did not catch, prosecutors said. `When he noticed this, he reportedly informed a relative of the woman, claiming that he was standing in front of her apartment and that no one had responded to his ringing,` they said.-AFP