[imagesource:showmax]

In 1986, a mysterious serial killer began stalking children on the Cape Flats, known as the Station Strangler.

By 1994, 22 young boys had been found dead, sodomised and then strangled.

In 1995, schoolteacher Norman Simons was found guilty of the murder of 10-year-old Elroy van Rooyen, the chilling final chapter in a haunting series of child murders.

Now, nearly three decades later, Simons has been released on parole, reigniting deep-seated anguish in a community that has long grappled with the elusiveness of true justice.

Showmax has just released the trailer for The Station Strangler, the latest true-crime feature documentary from IdeaCandy (Tracking Thabo Bester, Devilsdorp), which investigates this serial killer with the same nickname, believed to have gone on his killing spree from the mid-80s to the mid-90s on the Cape Flats.

The doccie features interviews with family members of the victims, lead investigator JD Kotze, serial killer profiler Micki Pistorius, and Dr Allan Boesak, among others.

Director Nadine Cloete won the Audience Award at Encounters for Action Kommandant, while Address Unknown won the SAFTA for Best Short Film. She is also the Production and Development Manager for Non-Fiction at the National Film and Video Foundation.

Reviewing its premiere at Silwerskerm in August 2024, Sunday Times called The Station Strangler “chilling”, adding: “Cloete is a formidable force in South African filmmaking, known for her fearless explorations of the country’s most poignant and untold stories… With The Station Strangler, she continues to challenge and redefine documentary filmmaking…  infusing the documentary with a depth of empathy and meticulous storytelling.”

Cloete said the most challenging interview was the one with the criminal profiler, Micki Pistorius, saying “That’s when everything became real”.

“I think in the other interviews, I could almost separate myself emotionally. But with her, because she went so deep into the psychology of the serial killer, it was just so intense,” said Cloete while speaking about her sit-down with her.

She also reflected on how “Going into those spaces was challenging. Dealing with the case in front of you, the facts and the evidence, and then seeing those things was super difficult,” said Cloete.

“Twenty-one were killed. You think what it means for childhood, for people who grew up close to that community in that era. If I tell anyone that I’ve done a documentary about the Station Strangler, they have a story to share about their experience during that time.”

According to Cloete, the first person who was interviewed was Ruth Jakuja, the ex-magistrate who wrote The Station Strangler: In the Case of S v Azval S Simons.

“She’s one of the people who feels that Norman Simons is innocent. I think that helped because it set the tone: for the rest of the interviews. I took what she said and tried to balance things against her arguments,” said the filmmaker.

Cloete said she felt this was a subject she would want to tackle because it is both a criminal case and a story of history and identity.

Catch The Station Strangler premiering on Showmax on Wednesday, 6 November 2024.

[source:citizen]