Heather Hogan
Potchefstroom police have launched an intensive search for missing Witrand hospital patient John Walgenbach. This is the 10th time Walgenbach has escaped from the dismal institution.
Walgenbach (43) – who has the mental capacity of a five-year-old – escaped from Witrand on Friday, June 18. Many other patients walk out of the institution regularly.
Ward 10, which was home to Walgenbach for the past eight years, has a cold, lonely atmosphere. The sparsely furnished communal rooms with chipped paint open on to a lonely playground where a retarded young man lies in the sandpit, groaning and flinging sand around.
In the TV room, patients huddle together, some of them sitting on the floor. A window there has been cracked by a patient who still bears the swollen cuts on his forehead. The holding cell – a barren, barred cage reeking strongly of urine – is where patients are kept when they get out of hand. Walgenbach was detained there once as punishment after one of his escape attempts failed.
Walgenbach was an English speaking man-child who couldn’t communicate with his Afrikaans peers.
”John isn’t unique for escaping from Witrand; many patients from different wings escape all the time,” explained a nurse who wished to remain anonymous. ”At present we have three other patients who are also missing and three others also from ward 10 who are always trying to escape, only to be caught again.
”What worries us is soon the security gates and bars are going to be removed, then even more people will escape. Sometimes patients become vicious or self-destructive, but John was placid. He didn’t have any friends here because he just could not relate to other patients.
”The day before he left, John sat limply in his chair almost as if he were in a coma but he looked fine the day he left. As far as we know, John escaped through the window in his room.”
The window is so small, Houdini could probably not have escaped through it. But staff say such windows – 20cm high with hinges that only allow them to open halfway – are a favourite exit point for patients.
”I don’t believe John escaped through the window – he is too big,” argued Deborah Nell, his sister and guardian. ”Somebody told me the nurse on duty went to make coffee and John walked out.
”I thought all of the doors are supposed to be locked at night. We were only notified on the Sunday after John went missing. It was days before the police were notified. Why doesn’t Witrand do something to stop their patients leaving when they know there is a problem?
”The last time John escaped, he and the man who escaped with him ended up walking to Krugersdorp. He simply hasn’t been happy at Witrand lately. There was apparently some problem with his food in the past. He was assaulted and developed a lump the size of a tennis ball on his left shoulder. This lump caused John a lot of pain but nobody there would even look at it for me.
”Why would John suddenly leave now when he knew I was coming to fetch him for the school holidays the way I always do? What concerns me is the way he has deteriorated both physically and mentally since going there. At one stage I was even warned not to get a fright when I saw my own brother.
”He used to be so capable with some things but all that changed. He’s a very lovable person as long as he isn’t provoked. I’m very worried that something may happen to him. John is a diabetic, epileptic, kleptomaniac with a child’s mentality. If he doesn’t receive his medication regularly, he starts getting fits. He was supposedly sedated to keep him from running away. I don’t know how this could have happened again.”
”Had we been notified immediately after he disappeared, we would have had a better chance of finding him,” sighed investigating officer Superintendent Jan Grey. ”It usually doesn’t take us this long to find escapees. They stand out and we pick them up easily.
”There was a problem in the past where unknown people were accused of stealing food from Witrand but this was never proved. Some patients are fairly violent, some smash glass and try eating it for example.
”A new security company started in July so hopefully security will improve at Witrand now. I only know of three escapes this year. Sometimes police give up their own time to try and find missing patients. We are doing everything in our power to find John.”
Witrand Hospital chose not to comment on the situation beyond saying: ”Don’t believe everything you read in the papers …”