A 30-year-old nurse was fatally injured on Thursday with a stabbing knife by a patient of a psychiatric unit in Thouars (Deux-Sèvres), who was placed in police custody, we learned from judicial source.
" An investigation of flagrancy has been opened for murder and attempted murder of persons charged with a public service mission ," said the prosecution. The nurse, mother of two, was attacked by a patient, 20 years old, who was trying to leave this unit of the Center hospitalier Nord Deux-Sèvres. He allegedly stabbed her in the chest, failing to also injure another nurse, the same source said.
Helicoptered to the Poitiers University Hospital, the young woman died in the afternoon. " One of the priorities of the investigation is to know how the suspect obtained a knife, " said Natacha Rateau, public prosecutor in Niort.
The alleged attacker, interned for a fortnight, was arrested and placed in police custody after being seen by a psychiatrist. " This kind of escape attempt occurs regularly, but it was impossible to foresee that this patient would be armed with a knife, " observed one of the victim's colleagues. " This highlights the lack of resources of the hospital in general and of psychiatry in particular, " he denounced.
The investigation was entrusted to the Poitiers judicial police.