'No one helped': German court fines three people for ignoring a dying pensioner at a bank

A 39-year-old woman and two men aged 55 and 61 were fined for walking around and not helping a pensioner who was laying unconscious on the floor of a German bank and later died.

Three people were fined for stepping over a dying pensioner who collapsed at a German bank. Pictured is CCTV of the incident. Source: Essen Police

A German court on Monday fined three people for failing to help a pensioner lying unconscious on the floor of a bank, instead walking around and even stepping over him. 

In the nearly one-year-old incident captured on video camera, the 83-year-old man had collapsed and hit his head. He then fell unconscious on the floor of a cash machine room of a bank in the western city of Essen.

"No one wanted to help," trial judge Karl-Peter Wittenberg, who handed out fines of up to $5,408 to one 39-year-old woman, and two men aged 55 and 61, said.

Two of the defendants testified they thought the man was homeless and just asleep.

It took at least seven minutes until another bank customer phoned emergency services.

They arrived 20 minutes later to ferry the man to hospital, but he never regained consciousness and died a week later.

A medical expert testified in court the man would have died even if he had received medical attention more promptly.