Rehab patient 'beaten to death'

CAN OF WORMS: ALLEGATIONS OF VIOLENCE, PSYCHOLOGICAL TORTURE, SEXUAL EXPLOITATION

- Hein Kaiser

Tetelestai Recovery Centre (TRC) in Winklespruit, KwaZulu-Natal, is at the centre of controversy following the alleged murder of inpatient Luke Edwards, 32.

Former residents have come forward on social media and to The Citizen with allegations of brutality including violence, psychological torture, sexual exploitation and physical abuse. All were purportedly meted out in the name of God, under the eye of proprietor Donovan de Klerk.

In April, Edwards' body was found dumped at an old age home up the road from Tetelestai. While the state autopsy results remain outstanding, The Citizen has seen pictures which appear to show he had been severely beaten.

According to testimony in court, Edwards tried to escape from the facility on 9 April after being placed in isolation and denied adequate food.

It was then alleged that four inpatients called monitors, who oversee fellow residents, beat him to eventual death.

The four alleged killers Lloyd Ramsbottom, 29, Banele Mseleku, 24, Jean Pierre Van Niekerk, 28, and Njabulo Brandon Dlamini, 28, pleaded not guilty and were granted bail on Wednesday after first being denied bail last week.

The centre is run by De Klerk, a recovering addict, his wife Laticia and a friend.

According to Google, "Tetelestai" is a Greek word meaning "it is finished" or "it is completed" and purportedly the last words Jesus said on the cross.

Macy, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, sought help at Tetelestai two years ago. She said she left traumatised and stripped of dignity.

From the day of intake, she said, all personal freedoms were confiscated. People are then placed in isolation for up to a few weeks, medication taken away and they are detoxed under the watchful eye of monitors, or recovering addicts, she said.

"People are left in there to scream in a locked room for days on end," Macy said.