Nurse jailed over syringe assault on colleague

A PSYCHIATRIC nurse has been jailed for a year for assaulting another nurse with a syringe filled with sedating, anti-psychotic medication.

Kofi Kankam claimed that the nurses had been engaged in some banter – and he had jokingly picked up the syringe.

The 48-year-old denied assaulting Emer Hyland, causing her harm.

Ms Hyland, who is in her 20s, told the Galway District Court yesterday that she had been sitting in the nurses’ station when she suddenly felt a sharp pinch in her left side.

Nurse Donna Long, who was standing behind her with Kankam, was holding a kidney dish with two syringes, which had been prepared for a patient that gardaí had just brought in, the court heard. When Ms Hyland saw blood coming from her side she and Nurse Long went out to examine it and Kankam came in and said he was sorry.

While Nurse Hyland was brought to A&E for treatment, Kankam was escorted to the door and told to go home. Nurse Hyland said she had been traumatised by the incident and while she had loved working in Galway, she had since moved to a psychiatric unit in Mayo.

During cross-examination by defence solicitor John Martin, Ms Hyland said she had not engaged in any banter with the accused.

She said she had her back to him when it happened. ‘He passed a comment, “I’ve got the gal”,’ she said.

Nurse Long said she was asked to draw up two syringes, one containing a sedative and the other antipsychotic medication for the patient who had just been brought in.

She was then told the patient had opted to take medication orally and there was no need for the syringes. She said she was standing with the kidney dish, which had sheaths on the needles, when Kankam suddenly grabbed one of the syringes. There was blood on the needle when he placed the syringe back in the dish.

The accused told Judge Mary Fahy he had never intended to harm Nurse Hyland. He said they had been engaged in some banter and he had jokingly picked up the syringe.

He said the sheath protecting the needle was present when he picked it up and it must have dropped off.

He apologised to Nurse Hyland at the time and since wrote a letter of apology. He had been a nurse working in Ireland for the last ten years.

Judge Mary Fahy said Kankam, of 15 The Clarin, Athenry, was not sorry enough to come into court and plead guilty. She said it was his right to contest the charge but he had put the victim through the trauma of having to give evidence and the court had been left with no choice but impose a custodial sentence.

‘It’s a very serious assault, to prick someone with a syringe and to have it done to you by another professional working with you is simply outrageous,’ the judge said.

Mr Martin said his client had returned from Africa to face the charge and asked for a suspended sentence or his client’s career would be ended. ‘It should be ended,’ Judge Fahy said before imposing a 12-month sentence.

Leave to appeal was granted.

‘Not sorry enough to plead guilty’