Spine-chilling documentary series ‘Boetie Boer: Inside The Mind Of A Monster,’ has finally made it onto South African screens.
For those unfamiliar with Stewart Wilken, also known as Boetie Boer, the Showmax Original true crime series is not for the faint hearted.
The convicted serial killer was charged with 10 counts of murder and five counts of sodomy after embarking on a murderous spree between 1990 and 1997.
The difference between Wilken and the text book version of a serial killer is that he never followed the same modus operadi. Not one to be a creature of habit, female prostitutes and young boys were mostly his tragic victims.
According to Wikipedia, Wilken murdered his daughter Wuane from his first marriage, after claiming that she was sexually abused by her step-dad. His reason? He wanted to send her soul to God.
Wilken’s rampage of death and destruction has now been documented in ‘Boetie Boer: Inside The Mind Of A Monster.’
Billed as the most disturbing Showmax Original true-crime series to date, the five-part, 18(SV)LVP documentary is now streaming, with new episodes on Wednesdays until November 15, 2023.
In preparation for the groundwork, series director Jasyn Howes met with Wilken in prison.
“You paint this picture in your mind of this monster, and then you meet the person and he’s just a man,” said Howes. “An old man, with no teeth, bifocal glasses, and a bad arm.”
Dr Gérard Labuschagne, the former section head of the Investigative Psychology Section of the South African Police Services, had given Howes his recording from 2006 of just over three hours of Wilken sharing, in his own words, everything he’d done.
But Labuschagne had stipulated that he needed Wilken’s permission to use it.
“I grew up in a blue-collar community so I went into this knowing what I needed to do, to meet this man on his level,” added Howes.
“It’s about a stiff grip handshake, it’s about eye contact, it’s all of that. If he looks at me, I need to look at him.
“I was very clear not to let him feel dominant, and I was honest, as honest as I could be, within reason.”
Despite not being fearful, he admitted he left there shaken.
“It’s his eyes… The way he looks at you is very unsettling.
“He does look through you, and he has this weird glint in his eyes that, yeah, only a person that’s done what he’s done would have,” explained Howes.
The five-part documentary series is a co-production between Stage 5 Films and Howes’ Fifth Floor Films. The series is streamed on Showmax every Wednesday.
IOL Entertainment