All language subtitles for BOETIE.BOER.S01E05.720p.SMAX.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.x264_track3_[eng].1

(ominous music)

(birds chirping)

(sirens wailing in distance)

(Derrik) So, this is one of
the important junctions

of the CBD Central area and
this is the Albany Road underpass.

A connection, basically,
to go into the city

and into Summerstrand,
Humewood Beach area.

And then obviously going left into

the more industrial area,
North End.

One important thing just while I'm
sitting here thinking, is that

with the Noordhoek rapist case,
where Alison was attacked,

after they took her car,

Frans du Toit then parked
the car under this exact overpass,

um, so we couldn't pick it up
with a chopper.

I think we spent about a day
and a half flying all over here

looking for her vehicle,

while she was in hospital
fighting for her life.

(Brett) In 1994, at the end
of the year, a terrible crime,

awful crime, took place in Port
Elizabeth where a young woman,

Alison, was abducted in
the central area of PE,

and taken out to Schoenmakerskop,

which is along a deserted road,

along-- along the coastline

where she was literally butchered
by two satanists,

and her throat slit from ear to ear,

and she was disembowelled.

It was an incredible story
of survival.

I was actually the first reporter
to interview her

and I actually saw her in hospital
about a week after the attack.

It was a story that
only became a huge story

because there were details
which emerged

which I think, don't emerge
in so many other stories

where victims are simply forgotten

because they don't have
voices any longer,

or because their families--
they don't have families

or because their families
don't want to speak about it.

Stewart Wilken's crimes,

looking with hindsight today

would seem under-reported,
and indeed, they were.

And one has to wonder why.

And I think it's this very fact,
that without the information

as opposed to the Alison story,
some victims do just vanish.

Wilken's victims
were street children.

Some of them
weren't even identified,

even by the time he went to trial
and was convicted.

And of course,
others were prostitutes,

with either distant relatives
or possibly no relatives at all.

(ominous music)

So,

this brings us to one of
Wilken's last murders,

or latest murders before we were
able to arrest him and finally

take him off the streets.

Yeah, it started at the Red Lion
again which was

quite a favoured hunting ground
of his.

(pop music)

(ominous music)

(Gérard) Stewart approaches a
sex worker, 26-year old, young lady.

And he actually says that he was
very-- he had a very high sex drive

'cause his wife hadn't had sex
with him for eight months.

(ominous music)

(Gérard) He then leads her to
a bridge,

off Albany Road near a railway line
and he said he was blind from lust.

(ominous music)

(gasping/choking)

(Derrik) He grabs Katriena Claasen,
strangles her to death,

throws her lifeless body
on the ground

and then repeatedly
has sex with the dead body.

Before fleeing the scene, he puts
her up against a concrete wall

and points her arm to
a sign which says,

(camera shutter clicking)

(Derrik) So, this case
was really important to me

because it was one of--
Well, the only case

besides his-- his missing daughter
that I had insight into,

before he was ever caught.

We didn't make the connection
at that time

between him and his missing daughter
or any of the other cases,

because they were so far and wide,
you know.

We didn't really--
We hadn't really put them together.

I think it was one of
our big failures.

We weren't talking to each other
about these things

and to be honest, I think
because the victimology of the

people were street children,
prostitutes...

You know, if you had pressure from
families and those kind of things

you would be looking out
those ones.

And yeah, and then eventually
he would confirm that--

that this was one of his killings.

(dramatic music)

♪ Beware of the wolves my baby ♪

♪ They're spying for love ♪
♪ From the porch tonight ♪

♪ And as the light begins to dim ♪
♪ They'll start the skinning ♪

♪ Of your innocent body ♪
♪ Naked in the night ♪

♪ So come and shine your light ♪

♪ Ooh, ooh ♪
♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh ♪

♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪

♪ Shine your light ♪

(Alwyn) Somewhere during 1996
I received a

Legal Aid Board instruction
to represent a person

by the name of Stewart Wilken,
on a sodomy charge.

So, I went down to court,
met the client.

He was still in custody
at that stage.

I did a bail application on
his behalf. Got him out on bail.

Once the investigation
in the case was completed

I secured a copy of
the police docket and I noted that

the allegation was that
he sodomised one of the children

of the lady with whom
he was with at that stage.

(ominous music)

(Sergius) My earliest memories
of my family is like,

not good actually, at all.

I remember like, my father being
abusive towards my mother.

My mother never wanted us
to be alone with him.

He would just take me like, "Come,
let's go for a walk.", whatever.

Sometimes he won't even
say anything,

he'll just take me
on my hand like...

I mean, I trusted the guy,
he's my father.

He took me from her,
went to go rape me in the bush

brought me back, and life just
carried on as if nothing happened,

after I told my mother
what he did to me.

(dramatic music)

Well, what happened is,
we prepared for trial.

I sat down,
I consulted with Stewart Wilken,

who denied any knowledge of the
allegations against him at the time.

And it was at
the second appearance on trial

that the matter was withdrawn
against Stewart Wilken.

The complainant was his stepson
and the mother of the complainant,

approached the prosecutor
and the matter was withdrawn.

Unbeknown to me at the time

the fact that the case against
Stewart Wilken was postponed

for trial and the time lapse
between the postponement

and the actual trial date

would lead to a build-up
of emotions in Stewart Wilken.

(tense music)

(Boetie Boer) Fuck! Fuck!

(Alwyn) It would lead up to
such a build-up of emotions,

that he had to relieve himself
from the stress.

So, on the date that
the case was withdrawn against him,

another child went missing.

(dramatic music)

(Ursula) This is the
statement of Ellen Bakers,

this is Henry Bakers' mother.

Ellen came across
as a very caring mother,

different to any of the other women
that Stewart was involved with.

(sinister music)

(dramatic music)

(Ursula) On 22nd January 1997,

this is the first day of school of
the year, Henry comes from school.

He normally goes home
or to his grandmother.

So that afternoon,
he went to his grandmother.

At a stage,
he said that he wanted to go home.

His uncle, David,
was supposed to walk with him.

But he just didn't feel like going.

(Ursula) Henry decided that
he's gonna go on his own.

At that period, Stewart came to
the grandmother's house.

He was a friend of the family,
nothing out of the ordinary.

(Ursula) Everybody knew him.
He was always around the kids.

So for them, it was nothing
when he offered to walk with Henry.

(ominous music)

(Derrik) Wilken would claim,
that during this walk

Henry asked him to
explain to him how to have sex

as a young girl at school
had come with a proposition

and he had no idea
how this took place.

Wilken then offered to show him
how to have sex.

Wilken then claims he led Bakers to
the Green Belt,

an area around Algoa Park.

And told the boy he was now
gonna teach him how to have sex

in the same way he'd been taught
as a young boy.

(tense music)

(Derrik) Bakers fought back
and said no, he wouldn't do it

and then told Wilken,
he would report this to his mother

if Stewart continued to
have sex with him.

At that point,
Stewart throttled him to death.

He would also then
cover the body up,

remove his clothes
place them in another place

and then repeatedly return
to this body and commit necrophilia,

up until his arrest.

It's this case which brought
Wilken to book.

Wilken had committed
the ultimate betrayal.

The community that had taken him in,
and where he had found refuge

was now betrayed by
the person that they'd helped

and protected all this time.

(Veronica over radio) Good morning.
This is Veronica Fourie,

with news just in.

A shocking discovery as Stewart
Wilken, also known as Boetie Boer,

has been detained after
confessing to multiple murders

spanning nearly a decade.

He was brought in for questioning
with regards to a missing child

and later in the day confessed
to more than 10 murders

including that of his own daughter,
Wuané,

whose bones were discovered
last year,

behind the old Elizabeth Hotel.

(Anchor) A Port Elizabeth fisherman,
arrested for the murder

of his 11-year old daughter

is to be charged with eight
more counts of murder.

(Veronica) Wilken faces multiple
charges of rape and murder

and will appear in the Port
Elizabeth High Court, next week.

(sinister music)

(Derrik) Now it's about
gathering evidence,

but I think even more important
than gathering evidence

at that point--
There's a mother sitting at home.

A family sitting at home,
without a body.

So for me, the most important thing
was to get Bakers' body back.

So I said to him,
well listen, you know,

I don't know where the boy is,
you know.

You know,
you told me you loved his mother

and you were involved with
his mother,

and you care so for the family.

Surely you would--

Surely, you want to let them
have some closure, you know?

And he's like, "I'll go and
show you where the body is."

Police methodology,
to be in line with law

I'm not allowed to go with,
on the pointing-outs.

So we call an officer,

who's got nothing to do
with the investigation

no insights into the case,
and we ask him to go with.

On that same night, Colonel Fanus
Rautenbach arrived at the office

He would then have to go
through the formal process

with Wilken and the lawyer
where he warns him of his rights.

(eerie music)

(Allon) I was the forensic
videographer on standby

at the time
with the Boetie Boer case.

I was stationed at
the local criminal records center

in Port Elizabeth
based in Mount Road.

I started there in 1991,

and received training as a
photographer,

fingerprint expert, videographer,

and accident scene reconstruction.

I'd heard the guys talking
about Boetie Boer

but I didn't really
put things together

until I was called to
video the pointing out.

(Allon) And as I was listening
to the story,

I realised what sort of
person this was.

And what was so ironic,
was the lack of emotion.

There was absolutely no emotion
in his voice or his face.

It was actually quite shocking.

I'd never come across a person
like that.

(Derrik) Videos are taken,
and photos are taken of his body

to show that we haven't tortured
or abused him.

(dramatic music)

(Derrik) One strange request
at the time was

said he wanted me to go with.
So, that's highly irregular.

He believed he could talk to me.

-(car engine starting)
-(ominous music)

(Derrik) So, on this particular
pointing out, we visited two sites.

The first site he showed Colonel
Rautenbach was the freshest victim.

The body of Henry Bakers,
who had been missing for about--

At that time,
I think about nine days.

(ominous music)

(camera shutter clicking)

(Derrik) What we found there
was ghastly.

I mean, the remains of Bakers--
He was maggot-infested...

Later information pointed out to us

that Stewart had been
at that body that morning.

And actually, before he went to sea,
actually had sex

with that maggot-infested body.

Jeez, people, I vomited.

I'm not, I'm not joking,
it was horrendous.

And I mean, just the thought,
it just--

It just defies any form of
logic or humanity.

(Allon) Here now you can see,
the insects on the body of a...

(Derrik) We were in a very,
very, tight spot at that point

because the body was in a very
bad state of decomposition.

And because of the breakdown
of DNA in young children

we were unable to determine
whether or not it was Bakers' body.

(Allon) We then left,
and if I'm not mistaken,

we went towards the Hotel Elizabeth,
in Summerstrand, Humewood.

(Inspector Gouws) Right.

(Allon) And we went from
the parking area behind the hotel,

we walked towards Happy Valley,
and that was quite a walk.

I had to carry the camera
by its handle

um, because it was through bushes
and over trees and that.

(tense music)

(Allon) And we came to a spot
where there was like a board,

or a cardboard or something,
and he scratched around, and

Capt-- Major Rautenbach asked him
what was he looking for

and he said,
that he'd buried his daughter there.

(Allon) Okay.

(ominous music)

(camera shutter clicking)

(Allon) Time is now 23:31.
Cut this recording.

(Derrik) We still had quite
a lot of facts we didn't know,

like we hadn't recovered Wuané's
clothing, his daughter's clothing.

We didn't have Bakers' clothing
at that point.

So, children's DNA doesn't stay long
after they die in the body.

So we knew from the Wuané case,
we didn't really have DNA.

We basically had his word.
He then said,

"Oh well, call my lawyer, because
if I have to leave it to you,

you'll be here forever.
So, I'll go and show you."

(Sidney) So in early March 1997

I got a call from Sergeant
Norsworthy, and he wanted to know

if I was available the next day
to do a pointing out parade.

And he informed me that
Mr Alwyn Griebenow

was the attorney that
was dealing with the matter

and that I would also
find him there.

(Alwyn) When he went to show the
police the remains of his daughter,

the nearer he came to the spot
where it was

he became like, yeah, I don't
wanna say he became like an animal

but he became like,
aggressive, and panted,

and the police battled to
keep up with him

as he was approaching the place.

And he was digging in the sand,
looking for her remains.

And it wasn't there where
he said he left it the last time.

And he'd move around
and he was agitated.

It seemed as if he thought that
somebody has been here

somebody has found the remains.

It's as if he wanted to claim that,

"It's mine.
Nobody else is allowed to touch it."

That was something that came across
quite disturbing at the time.

(Derrik) At this point in time, we
visited Henry's mom, Ellen Bakers

at her house in Algoa Park.

Up until that time,
even though the belief was there

that the body we had was
well Henry Bakers'

I'm always believing that family
hope that it's not the child

or that there would one day be
a knock at the door

and the boy would be returning home.

(Ursula) I still remember that
I climbed out first

and I had to take the clothes
from the back.

Ellen was standing in the door.

While we walked in,
she saw the clothes in my hands.

(Ellen) He's not here!

(Ursula) And when I got to the door

I still remember her
falling down on that floor

and she started crying and saying,

"Why? You promised you're
gonna bring him back."

That was the hardest part.

Don't touch me!

(Ursula) Seeing that mother
break down in front of me

and I couldn't bring her child back.

-I'm so sorry.
-My Henry's not here!

(Ellen) He's not here!

(Ursula) I was young when I made
promises that I couldn't keep.

You promised.

(melancholic music)

He's not here.

(Ursula) Ellen's life changed
dramatically

because of this experience.
She never had any other children.

She went into a relationship
that was also toxic.

Um, she drank a lot.

She ended up in the hospital
five years back

because of her abusive husband,

and because of her injuries,
and she passed away.

I think that she blamed herself

because she let him,
into their lives.

And he took the only child
that she ever had.

(Leon) A confession alone
is not sufficient.

Um, you can confess to something,
but we have to prove that

that something actually happened.

So with any confession

you have to prove the
elements of the offense.

But Wilken did not name
the names of his victims.

It would have been easier
if he would have said

that this victim he knew,
but they were all unknown to him.

In fact,
I think three of the murders

until today we don't know
the victim's identities.

(Derrik) So most cases are solved
proactively

and you're hunting a killer
with a profile.

Our case was
a bit different, because

it had all basically been done.

We were now trying to
retrospectively find the cases

that he was talking about,
from a statement.

(Leon) It was challenging
at the time.

It was long before the digital stage

so we had to go and physically
spend time in the dusty archives.

And the first thing that
you would normally do

is look at the photographs.

(Derrik) We would eventually sit
down with Stewart with

post-mortem photos and show him
the faces of the victims.

And he was able to identify
all the cases we had

one for one for one,
back as far as 1990.

So one thing that
was clear to me is that

his memory of who he had killed,

these pictures are engraved on his
mind very, very clearly

without any doubt,
as to whose were his.

So he clearly knows who he murdered.

(Alwyn) Now, the big thing is
it wasn't the same person

that I represented prior
in the sodomy case.

Now all of a sudden he's confessed,
he's guilty.

He's not guilty of one or two,
he's guilty of a lot of murders.

And you as attorney,
realise you've got a problem.

And it was at that stage
that I realised that

it's gonna be very important
to see what the outcome is

of the 30-day detention period

that he's gonna have
during his mental observation.

His referral for mental observation
was to Valkenberg in Cape Town.

And it was requested that
Professor Zabouw

who is an expert in the field,
deal with him at that stage.

It's an in-depth observation period,

where tests are done
and consultations are held.

It was important to have
that report available

in order to determine what
the approach would be

at the end of the day.

Whether there would be
a possibility of a plea of insanity.

(Prof Zabouw) Does it still
continue?

Are you still being traumatised?
By which people?

(Alwyn) Upon receiving the report
and perusing the report

it became clear that the panel
found that Stewart Wilken,

at the time of committing
the offenses

was able to distinguish
between right and wrong.

And he was also able to
act in accordance therewith.

I did not know whether

Professor Zabouw had
all the detail at the time

and whether the panel had
all the detail at the time

when coming to this conclusion.

So I requested the Legal Aid Board
to make funds available

in order to go see Professor Zabouw.

So, a meeting was set up
and I went up to Cape Town

to go see Professor Zabouw.

(Prof Zabouw) It's in the report.
Trust me.

(Alwyn) And what became very clear
during this meeting

was that this is the position.

This matter needs to go to court.

The court needs to make a finding.

And I realised at the time that...

What are the chances of coming
to a different conclusion?

A different conclusion would be that

he could not distinguish
between right and wrong

or that he could, but he couldn't
act in accordance therewith.

Which would have the effect,
that he cannot stand trial

which would have the effect that
he would be declared

a State's President's patient,

which would have
the effect that he would be

out of an institution
in a couple of years,

back on the street.

(film camera whirring)

(Alwyn) And if released back onto
the street,

what would the consequences be?

Who would then take responsibility
for these consequences?

So,

it dawned on me that there
couldn't be any other decision.

(eerie music)

(Alwyn) Right through the trial,
Stewart Wilken would

very, very seldom show any remorse.

He sat in court.
He listened to the evidence.

Ice cold.
Except for two occasions.

The first occasion was when they
produced his daughter's skull.

(Alwyn) Boetie became
very emotional.

To such an extent that
the court had to adjourn.

And the second time was,
after sentencing was passed,

and he realised what he was in for.

It was as if someone

shook him and
he awoke for the first time,

realising the consequences
of what he has done,

and realising the punishment
that he's receiving.

It now affected him, as the victim,

and why is he, as the victim,
being punished so severely?

(Alwyn) Whether he lived in hope
of something better than life

as far as sentencing is concerned,
might be so.

But when he broke down,
it was all about "me",

and nothing about the victims.

(Derrik) For Stewart,
I think it was-- it was a shock,

because I think his reality--

and I remember when we
put him in the car

and we were driving him back to
St Albans prison, him saying to me,

"Jis, Derrik, this judge is fucking
mad. How does he expect me to live

for 175 years before
I come out on parole.

He's out of his fucking mind."
And I was like,

"Stewart, I don't think he wants you
ever to come out, my friend.

Have you worked that out?" So I
think it was quite a shock for him.

(dramatic music)

February the 24th, 1998,
a year after his arrest.

The headline says it all,

"You deserve to hang.", in quotes.

"Serial killer Boetie Boer
is given seven life sentences."

33-year-old Stewart Wilken was found
guilty of murdering four women

and three children,
including his own daughter.

He also ate one of his victim's
body parts.

He was found guilty of
two sodomy charges as well.

Judge Chris Jansen said he would
have sentenced Wilken to death

if capital punishment
was not outlawed...

The sentence was good, because the
guy didn't show any remorse.

So I feel the sentence was good.

(Lulama singing in foreign language)

(ominous music)

(Brett) It's 25 years now, that
Stewart Wilken has been in jail.

And a story that appeared
in the Weekend Post

elicited quite a huge
public response online

with regard to his crimes
and whether he deserves parole.

It is a polarising issue.

Should he be allowed parole
after 25 years?

Should he be forgiven?
Should he be released?

He said himself at the sentencing
that he wanted to go to jail

because he wanted to
one day be released

and live life as a normal person.

The big question is, can Stewart
Wilken ever be a normal person?

(Gérard) I don't know if a case like
this really changes society.

It had a big impact
on a lot of people.

But I think its bizarre
and unusual nature,

makes it also very easy for people
to say, "Well, that's an outlier.

That won't ever happen again."

Why do we need to worry about
these kind of people?"

Because, will we ever have
a Stewart Wilken again?

And we haven't really, before him
or after him, had someone like him.

So, I see it more from the
policing perspective.

How does it make us better at
catching these individuals sooner?

And that's the whole point of
going down to speak to him.

What can we learn,

to try and make sure the number of
people he's going to kill

is reduced as far as possible,
to save victims lives?

(Gérard) So, there at the end of
the, sort of time that

I spent interviewing him,
essentially what he said he wants,

once he gets out of prison,
or if he gets out of prison,

is to really just go and be with,
who was then his wife

and just spend time with
grandchildren,

and play with them
and be a granddad which

you know,
is unrealistic on so many levels.

(dramatic music)

When people ask me,
who is my father

I tell them "Boetie Boer"
is my father.

My feelings towards my father
are not hatred.

I do care for him,
because he is my father after all,

and he is a human being.

After my father went to prison

I faced many difficulties
in my life growing up.

Getting out of Helenvale,
getting to a better place

there was no one to help us at all.

I've seen my father

for the five years back,
when he came back from Mangaung.

I only heard his voice and only
spoke to him through letters,

but not face to face.

So, it was really emotional and
I can't even explain how it felt,

seeing my father for the first time
after so many years.

(Sergius) Whenever I speak to him
on the phone or go visit him

immediately he'll burst into tears
and start apologising over and over

repeatedly saying sorry for what he
did to me, sorry for what he did.

Every single time when he sees me
or speaks to me.

I can't actually explain
the feeling.

I actually feel sorry for the guy,
being honest.

Being honest I feel sorry for him.

But in a way it's like, I told him,

look I forgave you
but I actually didn't.

I'm just putting his mind at ease,
"Look here, I forgave you," but

how can I forgive a person
that killed my sister?

That almost killed me,
and raped me and,

did what he did to all those
innocent people also.

I mean, my whole life
could have been so much different

if he didn't do what he do.

I don't think he'll ever change.

I think he can manipulate people
into thinking that he will change

but I don't think he will change.
Never ever.

Since he recently applied for
parole, the community threaten us.

"When your father come out,
we'll come burn down your house."

That's gonna happen.
We're gonna be in harms way.

People's gonna hurt us
to get to him.

Even me. If he gets out,
before he does anything to my sister

I'll most probably do
something to him.

I'll hurt him before he hurts my
sister, or he hurts me.

(melancholic music)

(melancholic music)

(Sonnika-Lee) Little by little,
the anger started to go away.

At the end of the day, I had to
give everything to the Lord.

And the Lord say
you have to let go of the past.

You have to forgive to be able to
move forward in life.

If you do not forgive,

you will never be able to
move forward in life.

You will be stuck on
one place forever.

(Derrik) It seems funny now,
thinking back to--

It's a lifetime since we did this.

Drawn into the thought that
25 to life is

basically what South Africa
gives offenders

and there's a possibility Stewart
would be eligible for parole

one of these days. I think that
creates a huge amount of fear in me

in the sense that I know from the
training he'll never stop killing.

Unfortunately, the sad realities
of serial killers is

we don't have a cure for them yet.

Maybe one day that'll change and

we'll be able to
release them into society,

but until such time,
that should never happen.

We owe it to the families of the
victims to make sure

Stewart never gets
the opportunity to do this again.

(ominous music)