Kenyan psychiatric nurse killed by patient in US
A Kenyan nurse who worked at a mental health care centre in North Carolina, United States was stabbed to death by a patient as she was taking care of him.
June Onkundi, who was from Kisii county, met her untimely death last week on Tuesday at the Freedom House Recovery Centre physichiatric facility in Durham City by a knife wielding patient James Gomes, 47.
Andrew Nyabwari, Onkundi’s brother was dismayed by the news of her death stating that as an employee of the facility, she deserved to be protected.
“For her family members, it is very painful. We are saddened that the very population she had the passion and desire to help is the one that finally took her away from us, leaving us grieving with her four children and husband,” he said.
“A place of work is supposed to provide safety for staff members. They should make sure that another family does not suffer the pain that we are going through today,” he added.
Onkundi, was about to commence her doctorate program at Duke University having completed her master’s degree in psychiatric nursing.
Local TV stations described Gomes as a serial criminal who had allegedly spent more than half of his life in prison and had recently been released from jail.
Authorities in North Carolina said that while working as a janitor at a local elementary school, Gomes was arrested for attempting to rape his co-worker while threatening to slit her throat with a knife.
He was released from prison in 2018 and charged and convicted nine months later for kidnapping and assaulting a woman by strangulation.
The North Carolina Nurses Association demanded that the authorities explain the safety gaps that led to the killing of the nurse.
