Morné Harmse
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| “ | Hey, wanna see something cool? | „ |
| ~ Morné to a group of students right before the attack. |
Morné Harmse, also known as "The Samurai Killer" (Born 1989) is a South African convicted killer and Satanist responsible for the 2008 Nic Diederichs Technical High School slashing in Krugersdorp, South Africa. (Age 18 at the time) He arrived at school wearing a mask that resembled the masks worn by members of American heavy metal band Slipknot and proceeded to attack four people with a 60 cm katana sword, resulting in one death and three severe injuries.
Harmse was a self proclaimed Satanist, with him citing that Satan had "told him to do it." He was also an avid fan of the band Slipknot and had been listening to them months prior to the attack.
Early life and Character edit
Morné was born sometime in 1989 to the parents of Machiel and Liza Harmse. He also had a younger brother with a similar sounding name, Corné. He grew up in a strict family and his father would often abuse him by using corporal punishment against him. In school, Morné was often bullied and picked on a lot due to his small size and thin body compared to other boys in his school. Because of this, he was an easy target for bullies to pick on. His parents talked with his teachers and the school about the situation but it did not really help as the bullying still continued. However, he still had a group of friends.
In school he was described as "quiet" and "well mannered". His parents later said that they thought he was not capable of ever doing such harm. Outside of school, Morné had obsession's with melee weapons, particularly swords, and "being a ninja". He would often practice doing "ninja stunts" and combat with samurai swords (Katanas) and knives. He had been gifted two katanas from his family, and one he had bought with his own money.
In his older years, he got into Satanism, even owning a Ouija board and a spell book. He also started listening to the band Slipknot and got some of his friends into them as well. He would also make masks resembling those worn by members of the band such as Corey Taylors's, Shawn Crahans's, and Joey Jordinsons's, as well as others. Morné also allegedly was inspired by Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. He and his friends wanted to be like them and do an attack in a similar style and get revenge on everyone at their school. One of his friends, Shaun Collins said that Morné said he used words like "masquerade" and "bloodbath" to describe the attack. He and two of his friends started planning an attack. Morné was going to bring three masks and three katanas, one friend was going to bring a homemade bomb, and the other was going to bring a gun from home. This would have occurred on August 17, 2008.
Fortunately, the other boys did not take this very seriously and thought that Morné was just joking around as they did not bring anything or engage in the attack on that day.
The Attack edit
On August 17, 2008, at around 7:00 AM (SAST) Morné arrived at school with a large bag that contained three katanas (Though only one was used) and three masks as he had planned. Knives were also found inside the bag. He his friends and his friends asked why he had all the weapons and masks. He told them about the plan they had discussed but his friends did not go through with it and didn't at all expect Morné to actually do it either. Morné had even brought a homemade bomb. They kept the distance between him because they were scared. Shaun Collins told Morné to put the bomb down but he refused. Finally Shaun grabbed the bomb and threw it away and it did not do anything. Morné also tried to get his other friend, Max Brechlin to put on one of the masks but he refused. They said that his eyes were red and black "like those of a crazy person". They also reported that "the whole time he was speaking in a weird voice, almost like the Joker's voice in Batman." Both Shaun and Max headed out for assembly.
Morné still continued with the plan however. At 7:20 AM he put on one of the masks with black face paint underneath, put on shoulder and knee pads, black gloves. He took out one of the katanas which was 60 cm in length. As he enterend the hallways into assembly, students saw him and started laughing at him asking why he was dressed the way he was. Morné encountered his first victim, 16 year old Jacques Pretouris, who was in grade 9 at the time. Morné then turned to groups of students near him and asked "Hey, wanna see something cool?" He then proceeded to slash Jacques's neck, killing him instantly. Shaun Collins said that "the sword was as blunt as a butter knife yet it still caused a very deep wound". Students also said that the pupils of his eyes looked "smaller than usual". It should be noted that neither Morné or Jacques knew each other or even met before that day.
After killing Jacques, students began to panic and ran away. Jacque's friends tried to save him but it was already too late. JC Welton, one of Jacques's friends, said he thought it was a joke until he saw blood coming out of his neck. He also started talking to him before he died from injuries Morné than walked down the halls and slashed 17 year old Stefan Bouwer to the back of his head and his leg, leaving him critically injured. Two school groundskeepers, Joseph Kodiseng and Simon Manamela saw what was going on and ran to Morné to try stop him. They tried to tackle him and Morné fought back by attacking them with his sword. Simon was struck in his arm, and Joseph was struck in his ear, losing part of it. However, both of them survived but were in critical condition.
Morné concluded his attack at 7:45 AM by sitting down at a brick wall and stuck the sword into the ground. But his younger brother, Corné, came and grabbed the sword from him and tackled him. Morné started to calm down realizing it was his brother and what has happening around him. He was then was grabbed by teachers and taken to the principles office who took the mask off him with smeared black face paint still on his face underneath the mask. Morné was asking "What happened? What happened?" in a dazed state, likely due to being tackled to the ground and unable to see all of his surroundings with the mask on him. After being escored to the principal's office, Morné told the teachers that Satan told him to commit the attack, and if he did not do it on that specific day he would die. Police were then called to the school and arrested for one count of murder and three counts of attempted murder.
Victims edit
Killed- edit
Jacob Pretorius- 16, Grade 9
Injured- edit
Stefan Brouwer- 17, Grade 11
Joseph Kodiseng- 26, Groundskeeper
Simon Manamela- 43, Groundskeeper
Aftermath edit
After Morné was taken into custody by police, he was sent to a mental hospital for a psychiatric evaluation. He stayed there for two months and doctors found out that he had many mental health issues and personal struggles. During evaluation, he claimed that he saw ghosts in a field on the smallholding his parents were renting at the time. Police than searched his room and found a oujia board, a spell book, a drawn pentagram, and a drawing of a school building plan with people's names on it, likely a hitlist.
On April 14, 2009, Morné went to his trial and pleaded guilty to all charges. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. However he did not say exactly what his motivation ways and the exact motive remains a mystery. His family, students at Nic Diederichs High, and families of the victims attended the court. It was also reported that Liza (Morné's mom) and family of Jacques Pretorius cried as soon as Morné walked into the court room. Liza and Miciel Harmse issued an apology to the Pretorius family shortly after.
Slipknot were blamed for the attack, as well as Satanism and other media. It caused a short moral panic, especially in South Africa, about how young people "are influenced by the media they consume". Corey Taylor, lead singer of Slipknot, commented on the attack saying:
| “ | Obviously, I'm disturbed by the fact that people were hurt and someone died. As far as my responsibility for that goes, it stops there, because I know our message is actually very positive. I'm not encouraging anybody to kill anyone. I encourage our fans to express themselves, to stick together and to help each other. | „ |
| ~ Corey Taylor |
Trivia edit
- Ironically enough, the attack was committed three days before Slipknot released their fourth studio album, All Hope is Gone.
- In 2015, a 24 minute documentary titled Samurai Killer was released discussing the incident.
- Morné's actions most likely inspired another similar attack in 2015 at a school in Sweden. The perpetrator used a sword to kill two people and wore German WWII helmet and mask. (Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trollh%C3%A4ttan_school_attack)
- In 2020, photos of his room during the police search were leaked, which showed he was a collector and fan of trading card games, such as Yu-Gi-Oh.
Gallary edit
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Morné moments before the attack.
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