Nepali refugee is held for trial in fatal stabbing of boyfriend

A refugee from Nepal was held for trial Friday morning on a homicide charge in the stabbing death of her live-in boyfriend in their Carrick home.

Urmila Gurung, 23, was returned to the Allegheny County Jail, where she has been held without bond since her arrest March 6, the day of the killing.

The victim was Bhim Rai, 26. He died of stab wounds to the neck and trunk, according to an autopsy report submitted to the court Friday.

The hearing was held before District Judge Craig Stephens at City Court, Downtown.

Defense attorney Brandon Herring said his client and her boyfriend were refugees from Nepal. Two interpreters assisted during Friday’s hearing.

Allegheny County assistant district attorney Aaron McKendry presented one witness: Pittsburgh police Officer Dustin Galich, who was on patrol that evening and was dispatched to the couple’s home in

the 1100 block of Brownsville Road.

Officer Galich said that when he arrived, Ms. Gurung was outside the house, “crying hysterically, covered in blood.”

Ms. Gurung brought the officer inside the house, where he saw the victim dead on the floor. Mr. Rai’s body was cool to the touch. The officer also testified that the apartment was in disarray, though he could not tell if that was due to a struggle or if it was the usual state of things.

A one-minute section of a 911 call from Ms. Gurung was played during the proceeding. Ms. Gurung could be heard in Nepali, her native language, saying that she “hit” her boyfriend with a knife. The words were being translated into English at the time by a translator who had been brought onto the call by the 911 operator.

According to a criminal complaint, Ms. Gurung called 911 just before 7 a.m. and told the operator that she and Mr. Rai had a fight; then she went to a bar and when she came back she thought he might have died. She also told the operatorthat police should come arresther, the complaint said.

The defense argued the charges should be reduced to manslaughter on the premise that there was no evidence of premeditation. The prosecution countered that Ms. Gurung had an opportunity to reflect on the crime when she stabbed her boyfriend a secondtime.

The case is now in Common Pleas Court.