Showmax has released a spine-chilling trailer for Boetie Boer: Inside The Mind Of A Monster. The year is 1990 and as the ANC is unbanned and Nelson Mandela is released from prison, Stewart 'Boetie Boer’ Wilken starts his killing spree in Port Elizabeth, now Gqeberha.
Well-known local journalist Brett Adkins says in the trailer, “When he was arrested, it sounded like something out of a movie. Suddenly we had a serial killer.”
“Wilken was a highly unusual serial killer,” says director Jasyn Howes, who won Best SA Short Documentary at the Jozi Film Festival for Dula. “Unlike most serial killers, he had more than one type of victim: predominantly female sex workers and young boys, usually street children, across multiple races. He also claimed to engage in necrophilia and cannibalism with his victims.”
In the unsettling trailer, Wilken openly discusses his crimes with Dr Gérard Labuschagne, the former section head of the Investigative Psychology Section of the South African Police Services. “Labuschagne gave us his recording of just over three hours of Wilken sharing, in his own words, everything he’d done,” says Howes. “Wilken had been in prison for eight years at the time of that interview, and was already sentenced to life behind bars, so he had no obvious reason to hide anything.”
Wilken’s version of events is balanced by interviews with the Child Protection Unit investigator Sergeant Ursula Barnard and Sergeant Derick Nosworthy of the Murder and Robbery Unit, who both played key roles in bringing Wilken to justice. In addition, Howes interviews the family of one of Wilken’s victims, Georgina Zweni, and Wilken’s own surviving children, Sonika and Sergius.
Showmax warns that the series is not for sensitive viewers.
Boetie Boer premieres exclusively on Showmax on 18 October 2023, with new episodes on Wednesdays. “Even if you are over 18 and a fan of true-crime documentaries, we strongly advise viewer discretion,” says Allan Sperling, executive head of content at Showmax. “This is not for sensitive viewers, especially hearing the description of the crimes in the killer's own words."
