Man pleads guilty to stabbing nurse in Durham in 2022, gets 24 years in prison

A man has pleaded guilty to stabbing a nurse to death in Durham in 2022.

James Gomes, 48, pleaded guilty on Monday to the premeditated murder of 44-year-old June Onkundi, a psychiatric nurse.

Onkundi was stabbed to death on Oct. 18, 2022, while working at Freedom House Recovery Center in north Durham. Onkundi's family told WRAL News that Gomes was her patient.

Gomes was there for a medication appointment and had already been released from prison for four months at the time of the murder.

After pleading guilty, 48-year-old Gomes was sentenced to a minimum of 24 and a maximum of 30 years in prison.

An autopsy of Onkundi revealed that she had suffered multiple stab wounds to her upper body, left arm and left leg, allegedly with a knife. She required emergency surgery for a stab wound to her heart, but attempts to save her were unsuccessful.

In 2022, WRAL News reported that Gomes had a history of violence against health care workers. In March 2019, Gomes attacked a clinical social worker at a Duke Health facility.

According to a press release from the Durham District Attorney's Office, witnesses reported hearing screams on October 18 and seeing Gomes standing over Onkundi and stabbing her with a knife.

The press release states that colleagues tried to intervene and one of them managed to take the knife away from Gomes.

Gomes was taken into custody and later told officers that he had recently stopped taking his schizophrenia medication and stabbed Onkundi because a voice in his head told him to “destroy” her.

In one 911 call, a person described a violent man who said, “There's a client who is out of control… he's screaming and yelling… this is a mental hospital… I need someone right now.”

Another caller reported hearing screams and seeing a knife.

Gomes has attacked women before, including in 2005 when he was a janitor at Merrick Moore Elementary School in Durham.