Doctor feels sympathy for teenager who stabbed him nine times

A doctor has said he feels bad for a teenager who stabbed him nine times and “wondered if you had just made a mistake”.

Chanz Maximen was aged 17 when he dragged Dr Adam Towler out of his house in Bristol and repeatedly knifed him in October 2019.

Maximen, now 19, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 12 years at Bristol Crown Court on Wednesday.

Dr Towler came to court to give a victim impact statement in which he expressed his concern for the defendant and his future, and the fact he would spend so long in prison.

Watch: Doctor stabbed by knifeman makes calm 999 call: 'I'm bleeding'

Describing a holiday he took in the aftermath of the attack, Dr Towler said: “Amid all the great experiences I had on it I never stopped thinking about you.

“I don’t know why but sometimes I would feel bad that I had this great freedom but you didn’t – I wondered if you had just made a mistake, albeit a big one, or been unlucky.

“When I compared my position with what I imagined yours to be, it sort of didn’t seem fair, although I know that’s hard to understand.”

Judge William Hart described Dr Towler’s statement as “extraordinary”, adding: “Whether it is the effect of intellect, or faith, or kindness and understanding, I don’t know.

“If it is the consequence of intellect, I admire it. If it is the consequence of faith, I envy it.”

Maximen had knocked on Dr Towler’s front door in Clifton and shone a light through the letterbox on 30 October 2019.

Dr Towler initially thought the knock was a Halloween prank, but Maximen pulled him into the road and stabbed him repeatedly, including a blow that missed his heart by two centimetres.

The defendant told him, “You killed the girl”, a phrase that he has never explained and meant nothing to the victim or investigators.

Maximen left the doctor for dead in the street and vacated the immediate vicinity but did not go far.

Dr Towler, a former trauma specialist, managed to crawl back inside his house but was bleeding so profusely he was initially unable to use his phone keypad or facial recognition to call 999.

When he eventually managed to make the call, Maximen returned to the address and could be heard throwing his full body weight against the front door trying to force his way in.

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Maximen was not arrested immediately and carried out two more random attacks in the city in the following weeks, including slicing a man across the face.

He denied the attempted murder of Dr Towler, grievous bodily harm with intent of Wojtek Rozmiarek and two counts of possession of a knife but was convicted after a trial last December.

He admitted a lesser charge of wounding Mr Rozmiarek.

The defendant was cleared of aggravated burglary.

Edd Hetherington, for Maximen, told the court that his client had suffered a developmental disorder that was a combination of both a learning difficulty and a communication disorder.

Mr Heatherington said that Maximen had a very supportive home life and his mother had been a constant presence throughout the trial.