One of South Africa’s worst serial killers, Moses Sithole, aka the ABC Killer, has been likened to the notorious American Ted Bundy.
As a young boy, Sithole was abandoned at a police station in Vosloorus, a monster in the making.
He was dubbed the ABC killer because he killed in Atteridgeville, Boksburg and Cleveland, all suburbs of Gauteng.
Sithole was found guilty of 38 murders and 40 counts of rape. In 1997, he was sentenced to 2410 years’ imprisonment.
Sithole said he was abused and sodomised while living in an orphanage. He ran away and shortly thereafter was sent to prison for his first rape. He spent seven years behind bars before being released.
With unemployment being such a problem in South Africa, Sithole used this to his advantage.
He lured women away with promises of employment. They trusted him, and he took advantage of their vulnerability. He took them to open fields where he raped and strangled them, robbed them of their belongings, and left their bodies in the open.
He opened a charity called ‘Youth Against Human Abuse’, where he handed out job application forms to prospective victims. These women trusted him, wouldn’t you? After all, he was helping the community; he was a good guy – that is how good an actor he was.
After two years of hunting the streets of Gauteng, he phoned a journalist and stated ‘I am the man everyone is looking for’.
Micki Pistorius’s profile was released to the public. Sithole’s sister phoned the police and arranged a setup where Sithole was apprehended.
In custody, Sithole insisted on speaking to a female officer.
While giving her his statement, he masturbated in her presence. His hatred for women was so evident that he had to humiliate this officer.
He admitted to 10 of the murders but still pleaded not guilty when his day in court arrived.
During his trial, it became evident that his victims were similar in age, race, and appearance.
I would conclude that they were of a similar age to his mother when she abandoned him.
Sithole tested positive in prison for HIV; his partner and daughter also tested positive. They both died from the virus.
Medication for HIV was not freely available in South Africa at the time unless you were in prison, so Sithole is still alive today.
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