True Crime South Africa

Today's minisode covers an Australian case with a South African link. We dedicate this episode to the human and animal victims of Australia's wildfires. For more information about…

When Ina Bonnette met Johan Kotze she thought she had found the man of her dreams. Those dreams would soon turn into a nightmare she could never escape from when the true Johan Kot…

In today's minisode we discuss two disturbing, recent "no body"murder convictions. There's an update from Episode 13 - The Samurai Killer and then we get a little more light-hearte…

In 1932 Daisy de Melker was executed after being found guilty of murdering her son. This crime just scratched the surface of what she had done, though. The specter of Daisy de Melk…

On the 9th of July 2004, 21-year-old Leigh Matthews was abducted from outside her university. Her kidnapper soon made contact and initiated an emotional roller coaster for her pare…

In 1997, the man who had been hunting young couples at Wemmer Pan for a year was arrested. There was another maniac stalking the streets of Johannesburg though, attacking and killi…

On the 20th of May 2014, 17 police officers and three social workers pulled up outside a double-storey house in a busy road in Springs on the East Rand of Gauteng. They’d received…

The annual commemoration of 16 days of activism against gender-based violence began on the 25th of November and runs until the 10th of December. This week True Crime South Africa d…

On Monday, the 18th of August 2008, 18-year-old Morné Harmse arrived at his school in Krugersdorp. Armed with three swords and replica masks resembling those worn by heavy metal ba…

This week in True Crime South Africa’s Spotlight minisode we reveal the details behind a 12-year-old cold case that was recently solved through the hard work of a dedicated detecti…

In 1995 a serial killer prowled the streets of Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal. He would take the lives of two teenage girls and leave two other young women traumatised before seemingly di…

In this week's Spotlight minisode: Is Sean Kelly - the alleged hammer murderer from Sedgefield - involved in the disappearance of Marie Ostbo? We also discuss updates on South Afri…

In 2003, Wesley Julyan was 18-years-old when he was convicted of the murder of Kenneth van Aardt. He and his accomplice had strangled the man with a shoelace, walking away from the…

In this week's spotlight minisode we discuss a South African killer in Alaska who filmed his crime as well as the murder of a young mother who was viciously stabbed to death while…

In March 2005, Carol Thompson received the news that no mother should ever have to hear. The body of her 24-year-old daughter Tracey, who had been missing for a week, had been foun…

In 1996, Moses Sithole was sentenced to 2410 years in prison for a prolific series of murders. The mind of a man who could commit such atrocities has been a fascination to professi…

Moses Sithole has the highest body count of any convicted serial killer in South Africa. For two years in the 1990s, he terrorised the women of Atteridgeville, Boksburg and Clevela…

In September 2018, South Africa woke up to the horrifying news that a 7-year-old girl had been raped in the toilets of a restaurant in Pretoria. The outrage was fuelled by video fo…

In 1949, 18-year-old Jacoba Schroeder had been drawn to the bright lights of Johannesburg in the hopes that she could pull herself out of poverty and cast aside the shackles of her…

In this week’s True Crime South Africa Spotlight minisode we discuss the scourge of gender-based violence and do a deep dive into some interesting information that emerged during t…