A mental health nurse was left traumatized and injured after she was stabbed (Image: Chris Fairweather/Hugh Evans Agency)
A mental health nurse has been left traumatised and injured after being stabbed by a patient suffering from schizophrenia in a psychiatric care unit.
Alexander Horton, 34, was admitted to the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend for treatment just three days before the unprovoked attack on the nurse at around 11.55pm on October 30, 2024.
The nurse was doing a routine night checkup.
The incident came to light when the nurse was doing a routine night checkup. Cardiff Crown Court heard that Horton came out of his room and calmly asked for help.
However, as soon as she came near him, he put her in a headlock and started attacking her face with the sharp pen.
The nurse felt the pen prick his left eyebrow and realised that his face was covered in blood. According to Wales Online, the attack lasted about eight seconds until other staff members intervened to stop Horton and the nurse was immediately taken to A&E.
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He suffered two cuts on his left eyebrow and one on his side. A broken pen, the tip of which was wet, was later found at the scene.
Upon his arrest, Horton requested Valium, expressing a sense of impending doom and a sense of being trapped. He confessed to not taking his medication that day, which caused something to “snap” within him.
He expressed regret for his actions and admitted that he felt “terrible” afterwards.
Caption: Cardiff Crown Court (Image: Media Wales)
Horton, of Lanarth Road in Lanarth, Monmouthshire, later pleaded guilty to intentionally causing strangulation and wounding under section 18. The court heard he had no previous convictions.
The victim’s personal statement, read out in court, detailed the nurse’s trauma: “Every time I entered the ward I felt afraid, not knowing if he was going to attack me again or if he had planned another attack against me.
“Since the attack, I am even more conscious of my surroundings, especially in the presence of male patients, in case I might be attacked again. It has given me two scars, one on my eyebrow and the other on my temple. The wounds are healing, but I know the scars are still there.
“People would ask me about the wounds, and I would have to explain what had happened, and I would get upset over that incident. This incident has become a part of my life that I am struggling to forget. I was lucky that the pen did not puncture my eyeball. My vision came back but it still left me shaken.”
Defence counsel informed the court that Horton had conducted himself appropriately while undergoing psychiatric treatment, which did not indicate that he posed a violent threat prior to the attack. Sentencing her, Judge Paul Hobson said, “(The victim) was someone who was just doing her job, trying to look after you and help you. What you did and the hurt you caused had a deep impact on her.”
Horton was made subject to a hospital order under section 37 of the Mental Health Act.
