EXCLUSIVE: Hammer attacker’s mom talks about failed attempts to seek help

SECUNDA – A mother’s desperate cry for help fell on deaf ears.

All that Mr Adam Muller’s mother wanted, was to get help for her son.

Mr Muller (23) was responsible for the death of two men after he attacked five people with a hammer in the CBD on Friday, 17 April.

His mother said they seek help many times, but few people or institutions were willing to help.

He has a drug addiction and went to rehabilitation centres more than once, but went into relapse every time.

“Despite our never ending efforts to help him, he went back to the wrong friends and drugs every time,” said Ms Muller.

“We did everything we could to help him.

“We took him for therapy, rehabilitation, placed him under house arrest, but to no avail.”

Mr Muller’s family took him to a psychiatrist in eMalahlene (Witbank) about a year ago who advised the family to take Mr Muller for psychiatric treatment.

They took him to the Evander Hospital because the family does not have a medical aid.

“We begged the psychiatrist at the hospital to refer Adam to a psychiatric hospital so that he could get the correct treatment, but the psychiatrist said the medication he uses is enough.

“We again pleaded with him and told him something was wrong with Adam and that he needed psychiatric help, but the doctor said it was not necessary because nobody got hurt yet and if somebody gets hurt, then we can get further help.

“Then the fatal day of 17 April happened and so many people’s lives were destroyed.

“It was a sad day that never should have happened.

“Our son is not a monster, he is a young man who needed help.

“We are very sorry for the families of the two men who lost their lives, as well as the other people who were attacked.

“There are no words to describe how broken we are inside.

“We share the hurt and trauma of everyone who were affected by that day,” said Ms Muller.

She thanked everybody who supported them through prayer and messages and for caring.

Before the attacks on 17 April, Mr Muller was clean for a while and began working a month and a half ago.

His mother suspects he again began using the drug Nyopi earlier in the week of the attacks.

“I noticed on the Wednesday his behaviour was changing and told my mother I am concerned about him,” said Ms Muller.

Mr Muller was on psychiatric medication, but it was not enough.

The family knocked on the doors of local welfare organisations as well, but social workers also failed to help Mr Muller.

“He was a child with a problem and he is going to pay for it and we realise he is going to be locked up, we just hope he gets help now and we believe the law will take its course,” said Mr Muller’s mother.

Mr Muller’s employer, Ms Michelle Lindeque, described him as a friendly young man who always did his work to the best of his ability.

“He was a good worker and he was very proud of his work.

“The man who attacked the people was not the Adam I knew,” said Ms Lindeque.

On the day of the attacks employees from Lynco and Ricky B ran after Mr Muller and screamed at people to get out of the way.

Read about the day of the attack: https://bit.ly/1G3Yrs7

People who work at the businesses next to where Mr Muller worked, also described him as a friendly person and was shocked and traumatised by his behaviour on the day of the attacks.

Mr Altus Delport, an employee at Lynco who also helped to finally catch Mr Muller on 17 April after he walked from Secunda Bloemiste to Roy Campbell Street and hitting five people with the hammer along the way, said when he pegged him down on the ground, Mr Muller asked him what happened and what was wrong.

He did not realise what he did.

Mr Muller was arrested and had his second court appearance in the Secunda Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

The men who died in the attacks are Messrs Themba Shabalala (45) who died on the same day and Lourens de Lange who died on 20 April after he was declared brain dead on 18 April.Mr De Lange’s funeral was held on 24 April at the Lede in Christus Church, and his father, Mr Anton de Lange, said the facts published in the newspaper and on Facebook that his son and Ms Karin Louw, who was with him on the day of the attacks, were engaged is not true.

“The child she is pregnant with is not that of my son, only the first child is his.

“He and Karin ended their relationship eight months ago and she apparently contacted him on the day of the attacks to go with her to buy nappies for their child,” said Mr De Lange.