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A mental health nurse told how she almost died when a trans hospital patient tried to strangle her using a drawstring from his hoodie.
Kieffer Sutton, 25, throttled Kazeema Afzal, 37, after telling her 'It'll be fun seeing you die, you b****'.
She blacked out before other staff came to her aid in his bedroom on a high security ward.
Mrs Afzal told the Mail yesterday that when Sutton was admitted to the ward at Health Lane Hospital in West Bromwich, it had been policy to have two members of staff in the patient's room during observations.
In Sutton's case, because he was born female but identified as a male and because he posed a risk of self-harm, she said his care plan originally stated that observations would be carried out by one male and one female nurse.
She said Sutton had complained about the presence of a male nurse when he changed or needed to use his en-suite bathroom, so the care plan was altered to allow the male nurse to step out of his bedroom.
A judge heard Sutton had pretended to need the toilet to get mother-of-three Mrs Afzal alone before wrapping the cord around her neck and tightening his grip. He was given a life sentence with a minimum 13 year term on Thursday, May 23, after being found guilty of attempted murder at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
The court heard Sutton had a shocking previous record of violently attacking nurses, hospital patients and members of the public over a 10 year period – something Mrs Afzal said she only found out about when she heard it while sat in the public gallery during the sentencing hearing.
Sutton had committed 46 counts of actual or threatened violence and over half were carried out on members of healthcare staff.
But Mrs Afzal, from Walsall, yesterday said she would have 'refused to have gone in that room alone' if she knew about Sutton's previous attacks on staff.
'This has scarred me for life', she said. 'He was a dangerous person from day one, but nobody told me 'We were told he had a personality disorder but nothing about how dangerous he was.'
The nurse had previously worked alongside her sister Areema Nasreen, also a nurse, at Walsall Manor Hospital. The 36-year-old tragically died after contracting Covid-19 in the early weeks of the pandemic and Mrs Afzal moved to the mental health unit 'because there were just so many memories at the (Manor) hospital'.
The court heard Sutton had been on the unit for a year before he tried to strangle her on July 2 last year.
Recalling the horror attack, Mrs Afzal said: 'I tried to fight back but I just felt my soul leave my body and I just thought 'this is it…I'm not going to survive, I'm going to meet (Areema)'.
'Now when I go into work I am scared I will be attacked. I know how close I was to dying.'
She said she does not remember the aftermath of the attack and is still on medication. It took months for her to return to work, which she did to 'face my fears'.
The court heard how Sutton, of Erdington, Birmingham, had punched, headbutted, stamped on and attacked nurses in hospitals and prisons across the Midlands.
Prosecutor James Dunstan said in one attack, Sutton 'grabbed a nurse around the neck with both hands, and squeezed so hard she struggled to breath'. In another he headbutted a nurse on the nose while in a third he threatened to slit a staff member's throat with scissors.
Judge Simon Ward said the 'manipulative individual' had 'engineered the situation' in order to be alone with his victim and attack her.
He told Sutton: 'I think you will still pose a danger to those you come into contact with. This is why I am giving you a life sentence.'
Despite his male identification, Sutton is being held in a women's prison.
A mental health nurse told how she almost died when a trans hospital patient tried to strangle her using a drawstring from his hoodie.
Kieffer Sutton, 25, throttled Kazeema Afzal, 37, after telling her 'It'll be fun seeing you die, you b****'.
She blacked out before other staff came to her aid in his bedroom on a high security ward.
Mrs Afzal told the Mail yesterday that when Sutton was admitted to the ward at Health Lane Hospital in West Bromwich, it had been policy to have two members of staff in the patient's room during observations.
In Sutton's case, because he was born female but identified as a male and because he posed a risk of self-harm, she said his care plan originally stated that observations would be carried out by one male and one female nurse.
She said Sutton had complained about the presence of a male nurse when he changed or needed to use his en-suite bathroom, so the care plan was altered to allow the male nurse to step out of his bedroom.
A judge heard Sutton had pretended to need the toilet to get mother-of-three Mrs Afzal alone before wrapping the cord around her neck and tightening his grip. He was given a life sentence with a minimum 13 year term on Thursday, May 23, after being found guilty of attempted murder at Wolverhampton Crown Court.
The court heard Sutton had a shocking previous record of violently attacking nurses, hospital patients and members of the public over a 10 year period – something Mrs Afzal said she only found out about when she heard it while sat in the public gallery during the sentencing hearing.
Sutton had committed 46 counts of actual or threatened violence and over half were carried out on members of healthcare staff.
But Mrs Afzal, from Walsall, yesterday said she would have 'refused to have gone in that room alone' if she knew about Sutton's previous attacks on staff.
'This has scarred me for life', she said. 'He was a dangerous person from day one, but nobody told me 'We were told he had a personality disorder but nothing about how dangerous he was.'
The nurse had previously worked alongside her sister Areema Nasreen, also a nurse, at Walsall Manor Hospital. The 36-year-old tragically died after contracting Covid-19 in the early weeks of the pandemic and Mrs Afzal moved to the mental health unit 'because there were just so many memories at the (Manor) hospital'.
The court heard Sutton had been on the unit for a year before he tried to strangle her on July 2 last year.
Recalling the horror attack, Mrs Afzal said: 'I tried to fight back but I just felt my soul leave my body and I just thought 'this is it…I'm not going to survive, I'm going to meet (Areema)'.
'Now when I go into work I am scared I will be attacked. I know how close I was to dying.'
She said she does not remember the aftermath of the attack and is still on medication. It took months for her to return to work, which she did to 'face my fears'.
The court heard how Sutton, of Erdington, Birmingham, had punched, headbutted, stamped on and attacked nurses in hospitals and prisons across the Midlands.
Prosecutor James Dunstan said in one attack, Sutton 'grabbed a nurse around the neck with both hands, and squeezed so hard she struggled to breath'. In another he headbutted a nurse on the nose while in a third he threatened to slit a staff member's throat with scissors.
Judge Simon Ward said the 'manipulative individual' had 'engineered the situation' in order to be alone with his victim and attack her.
He told Sutton: 'I think you will still pose a danger to those you come into contact with. This is why I am giving you a life sentence.'
Despite his male identification, Sutton is being held in a women's prison.
