Two mental health nurses were left in fear for their lives when a patient imprisoned them in his room, threatened them with a knife and told them he would stab them.

The nurses were conducting a home visit at defendant Aboubakar Diaby’s supported living accommodation in Southey Avenue, Longley, Sheffield, when he began to get agitated, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

Becoming concerned for their welfare, the nurses decided to leave but Diaby blocked the door, prosecutor Laura Marshall said.

“The defendant produced a knife that was six to eight inches long and pointed it at them,” she said.

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Diaby continued to shout and point the knife at the nurses, and threatened to stab them.

At one point, he held it 15 centimetres away from the female nurse’s stomach.

“She was frightened he was going to stab her, she was in fear for her life,” said Ms Marshall.

He punched the male nurse to the side of his face.

“I thought he was going to stab us, and this terrified me,” the female nurse said in a statement to the court.

Diaby, aged 19, was charged with, and pleaded guilty to, affray and false imprisonment.

Judge Charles Thomas told Diaby: “The reality is you were terrifying those people when you pointed a knife at them and wouldn’t let them leave.”

Diaby was remanded into custody following the incident on October 28, 2025, and has already served 10 months behind bars.

He was sentenced to a two-year community order.

Judge Thomas said he had taken Diaby’s mitigating features such as his lack of previous convictions, the fact he was 18 at the time of the offences, and his mental health issues into consideration.

He noted that at the time, Diaby had not been taking his prescribed medication, and was instead, self-medicating with cannabis, which exacerbates his symptoms.