Nearly three months after Tetelestai Recovery Centre (TRC) patient Luke Edwards was found beaten and stabbed to death on a neighbouring property, his parents are determined to close the Kingsburgh rehab on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast.
But the rehab centre says CCTV footage shows Edwards was calm with no visible signs of injury after he absconded from the facility.
Edwards, 32, was admitted to the faith-based rehab centre by his parents Linda and Duncan on March 31, but over a week later he was dead.
This week TRC patients Lloyd Ramsbottom, 30, Banele Mseleku, 24, Jean Pierre van Niekerk, 28, and Njabulo Brandon Dlamini, 28, appeared in court for his murder. They were released on bail on Friday.
While the Edwards family hope the case will shed light on what happened to their son, the KwaZulu-Natal health department’s investigation found there was “no current evidence directly implicating Tetelestai staff in his death”.
Edwards was found shirtless, lying in a pool of blood in a neighbouring retirement facility at 5am on April 9 with extensive head trauma and stab wounds.
In his preliminary report issued on Tuesday, the health department’s mental health & substance abuse coordinator Nicholus Khumalo said the facility presented a video of Edwards approaching the main gate at 1.30am on April 9, talking to the security guard and asking for water. The guard didn’t notice any signs of injury.
This was two and a half hours after he was reported missing from his room on a facility WhatsApp group.
“The delay in notifying the family may warrant further administrative review, though the facility did attempt internal searching before alerting them early the next day,” said Khumalo.
“An internal search was conducted on the premises but yielded no results. Due to the late hour, the facility management delayed contacting the family until the next morning. On April 9 at about 7am, the facility informed the family about the disappearance. At about 9am, a police van arrived at the gate of the centre with a photograph of a deceased individual. He was found naked, unresponsive, lying in a pool of blood at a nearby retirement facility. Facility staff identified the individual as Mr Edwards.”
In view of the way this was handled by Tetelestai, and their subsequent actions, we do feel the owner should be criminally charged but that is something the police need to decide
— Linda Edwards
Khumalo recommended a review of facility protocol involving emergencies and missing persons, and said that family liaison should be improved.
Linda and Duncan believe their son might still be alive if things had been handled differently. “In view of the way this was handled by Tetelestai, and their subsequent actions, we do feel the owner should be criminally charged but that is something the police need to decide” Linda told the Sunday Times.
“We will seek advice regarding civil action and considering the number of people that have come forward on social media, we feel the centre should be closed. We had paid the centre for the section 33 (a court order compelling a patient to be admitted) and were advised telephonically on April 3, so they were responsible for him when he absconded. They should have immediately contacted the police.
“Had we known when he absconded, we would have immediately driven to the centre to find him. We are an extremely close family, we would never leave him out like that, wandering around, and he would have still been alive.”
It is believed Edwards was linked to alleged incidents of verbal and physical abuse of two residents at the rehab centre on April 7 and 8.
“We were advised a charge had been laid at the police for a fight at the rehab, so we presume it was in retaliation for that. He was psychotic, which made him aggressive, but we were assured by the rehab they could deal with it.”
Edwards returned to South Africa from Mexico in March and began using marijuana more frequently.
“He was almost schizophrenic and was making up weird stories and becoming aggressive,” the mother said. “We met with Donovan de Klerk, Tetelestai’s owner, the day after Luke was admitted to ensure he was in safe hands, and that they understood psychosis and would be able to treat him.”
Linda said she and her husband were shocked by the centre’s response to their son’s death on Facebook. She said photos of her son’s body were posted by the facility, which they have since taken down.
“Seeing those photos of Luke with his face swollen was extremely distressing for us. The police had not allowed us to see the video footage yet, so it was very upsetting for the rehab to post them like that,” she said.
“Some of their information was very hurtful to our family. They disclosed personal, psychological and private information about Luke which was confidential and so unethical to put on social media, especially when they knew he was in a psychotic state during his time there.”
De Klerk’s attorney, Wesley Rogers, said he could not discuss the matter, since his client was a state witness, and that the matter was sub judice. “Mr Edwards did not die on TRC property, and was captured on CCTV footage some two hours after absconding from TRC, where he is seen fully clothed, calm and without any visible injury. This office has a copy of the footage.
“The narrative being fuelled on social media that he was assaulted at TRC is, to our client’s knowledge, false. Our client cannot comment on the merits of the evidence against those who have been arrested as he has no insight into the docket.
“The persons arrested were patients of TRC, and do not represent the centre in any way or form. Those who have been arrested shall no longer be housed at TRC if released on bail.”
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