David Kwiatkowski Apologizes to Victims

David Kwiatkowski, the former Exeter Hospital worker who was sentenced Monday to 39 years in prison for starting a hepatitis C outbreak last year, apologized face-to-face to some of his victims.

"I do belong in prison," he told the audience in U.S. District Court in Concord. "I'm truly sorry for what I've done."

Kwiatkowski, who has hepatitis C, infected 32 patients in Exeter and about a dozen more at hospitals in Kansas and Maryland, prosecutors said. He admitted to shooting himself up with powerful narcotics like Fentanyl then replacing the syringes with a saline solution to make them appear untouched."

"There is no excuse for what I've done," he continued. "I wish I could sit down with the victims and let them see the real me ... I'm a kind person. I'm not a violent person.

"I don't blame the families for hating me. I hate myself.

"I'm sorry for what I've done. I belong in prison."