What happened
On Thursday 3 November 2022 a social worker from the Southern Health and Social Care Trust was at accommodation in Dungannon, County Tyrone, unpacking groceries for a service user. Fiyori Kesete had been missing for several days and had been returned to the address by police that day, with her social worker alongside her.
Kesete came into the kitchen, said “I’ve bought you all your favourite things”, and attacked her without warning. The PSNI records stab wounds to the arms and head, and strikes to the neck. Police were still outside. They came in and contained Kesete while paramedics took the social worker to hospital for emergency surgery. The PSNI described the injury as permanent and life-altering.
The outcome
Kesete, 25, admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent. The reporting of the sentence does not agree. The BBC records six years’ imprisonment with a two-year extension on licence. The PSNI and Social Work News record an eight-year custodial sentence at Dungannon Magistrates’ Court on Friday 18 October 2024. The vault record carries the six-year figure.
The judge called it a “vicious and terrifying ordeal with far-reaching and lasting effects”, noted limited remorse, and recommended deportation at the end of the sentence.
What went wrong
The worker was in a kitchen with her hands full. The service user had been missing, had been brought back by police hours earlier, and was in the care of the trust’s team for young people. The police who returned her stayed outside.
No source criticises the trust, and this page does not either. What the reporting establishes is the arrangement: one worker inside the building, and the people with authority to restrain someone out in the street.
The task was the most ordinary part of the visit. Shopping had to be carried in and put away, standing still, both hands occupied.
What it teaches
Risk assessment tends to look at the client’s history and not at what the worker is doing with their hands. Carrying bags, unpacking, making a drink: these are the minutes when a worker is committed to a task and least able to react or leave.
A return from missing is a risk moment in its own right. Someone has to decide whether the worker goes in alone, whether police stay, and what the worker does if the person’s mood shifts. That decision should be recorded, or it is made by whoever happens to be at the door.
A warm sentence from a client is not reassurance. “I’ve bought you all your favourite things” came immediately before the attack.
Questions for the room
- Which regular parts of your visits leave your hands full and your back to the room?
- When police return a missing service user, who decides whether you go in, and is that written down?
- If a client’s manner changes mid-task, where is your exit, and can you reach it without putting anything down?
- What would have had to be different for a second adult to be in that kitchen?
Evidence and limits
Confidence: confirmed. Three sources were read: BBC News, the PSNI’s own release, and Social Work News. They agree on the date, the attack and the injury, and disagree on the sentence length, so both figures appear above. The social worker is not named in any source and is not named here. No trust review or inspection finding is in the pack, so the page stops at what the reporting establishes.
If you are reviewing the rules for staff who work inside other people’s homes, our lone working training sets out the decisions that belong before the door opens.
Sources
Reviewed 20 October 2026.