The ultimate act of forgiveness: Doctor who was dragged from his home and stabbed nine times tells his attacker: ‘I’m not angry with you’
- Dr Adam Towler was knifed in a random attack by Chanz Maximen in 2019
- The doctor said he was not angry with his attacker but felt connected to him
- One of Maximen’s blows only missed Dr Towler’s heart by 2cm
A doctor who was stabbed nine times said he is ‘not angry’ with his attacker but instead feels a ‘sense of connection’ with him.
Dr Adam Towler was dragged from his house into the street and knifed in a random attack by Chanz Maximen.
A former trauma specialist, Dr Towler initially thought it was a Halloween prank when Maximen, then 17, knocked on his door and shone a light through his letterbox in October 2019.
But when he opened the door, he was hauled outside and repeatedly stabbed – with one blow missing his heart by just 2cm.
Dr Towler initially thought it was a Halloween prank when Maximen, then 17, knocked on his door
Maximen left the doctor for dead and initially left the scene.
But after Dr Towler, 52, managed to crawl back inside his house in Clifton, Bristol, his attacker returned. The doctor called 999 and during the call, Maximen could be heard throwing himself against Dr Towler’s door trying to get back in.
Police then chased the knifeman before arresting him at Clifton Down train station. Maximen, now 19, was jailed for life at Bristol Crown Court this week for the attack and two others.
He also stabbed a man walking home from a night shift and tried to break into a young woman’s house. At sentencing, Judge William Hart said he ‘envied’ Dr Towler’s ‘extraordinary’ forgiveness.
In a victim impact statement, the doctor said: ‘To begin, I want to say that I am not upset or angry with you. I don’t think you owe me an apology or anything but I do want you to know what it’s like for me.’
The judge remarked on Dr Towler’s comments, saying: ‘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.’ The doctor, who develops medical software, spoke further about his thoughts in a BBC Radio 4 interview yesterday, saying: ‘The fact we’re here talking today, I got lucky.
Knifeman: Maximen left the doctor for dead and initially left the scene before he was caught
‘I’m living a quite normal life, a comfortable life. My immediate outlook is rather more comfortable than Chanz Maximen’s position.
‘I guess also in some odd way I felt a sense of connection with him. He and I were two individuals connected in this event. I haven’t been able to speak to him.’
He added: ‘No one knows what [Maximen] thought. No one knows if he’ll ever be judged safe to return to society. But his whole life turned on that event. Prior to that there was no mental history, he was on a good course, and that may be difficult for him.
‘Neither of us can unwind the clock on those events so now I have the rest of my life before me and he does too.’
Reflecting on his outlook, Dr Towler added: ‘If [my approach] stimulates a thought in some other people, perhaps gives them some tools to think differently about a difficult situation they’re experiencing, then that’s cool.’
During the attack, Maximen, from Sea Mills, Bristol, said ‘you killed the girl’ – a sentence that remains unexplained to the victim or investigators. A jury found him guilty of attempted murder, grievous bodily harm and three counts of possessing a knife. He was jailed for a minimum of 12 years.
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