Profiler: True Crime Africa

This week on Profiler Africa, forensic psychologist Gerard Labuschagne sits down with Peter Collins, a globally recognized operational forensic psychiatrist who’s spent over 30 years on the frontline of violent crime investigations.

Collins isn’t a “profiler”—he’s a psychiatrist who’s shaped how police understand, manage, and investigate high-risk offenders. From hostage negotiations and threat assessments to developing tools like V...

This week, forensic psychologist Gerard Labuschagne takes us inside one of South Africa’s most disturbing — yet largely ignored — serial murder cases.

Between 2007 and 2009, 16 women and a child were raped, strangled and dumped in the bushveld around Westonaria and Lenasia. Most victims were unidentified. Many were unemployed, vulnerable, and invisible to the public eye. But not to their killer — Madumetja Jack Mogale.

In this episod...

For years, Profiler Africa has warned that cracks were forming inside South Africa’s law enforcement system. This week, those cracks turned into a full-blown fracture.

Explosive allegations by KZN Police Commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi — pointing to a criminal syndicate operating within the SAPS — have forced the President’s hand, sidelined the Police Minister, and plunged the country into chaos.

In this episode, we strip away the he...

This week on Profiler Africa, South Africa's leading forensic psychologist Gerard Labuschagne takes us inside a shocking event that rocked an affluent Johannesburg suburb: the 2011 Rosebank Police Station shooting. More than just a lone disgruntled employee, this case exposes the dangerous cracks within law enforcement and the chilling reality of workplace violence.

We delve into:

• The Perpetrator & The Spark: Who was Keka...

This week on Profiler Africa, forensic psychologist Gérard Labuschagne uncovers the terrifying world of muti murders — killings where body parts are harvested for traditional medicine. These aren’t random acts of violence. They’re deliberate, driven by belief, greed, and an underground economy that thrives in the shadows.

We dive into:

• What muti murder really means — and why it’s not just “ritual”

• A shocking case of a mother who k...

This week, Profiler Africa goes behind the scenes of South Africa’s most high-stakes standoffs with Dr Ernst Strydom — SAPS’ former National Coordinator of Hostage Negotiations.

Host Paul Llewellyn and forensic psychologist Gerard Labuschagne dig into the psychology of crisis and negotiation, guided by the man who trained the nation’s negotiators and led SAPS through hijackings, bomb threats, and terrorist incidents.

🔍 In this episo...

In this explosive episode, Paul and Gerard sit down with retired Colonel Tollie Vreugdenburg — former head of SAPS Counter-Terrorism — to expose the chilling truth behind one of the most dangerous domestic terror plots in South African history: the Boeremag.

This white supremacist militia planned to bomb the country into civil war, assassinate Nelson Mandela, and launch a violent coup. But thanks to Tollie and a small team of invest...

This week on Profiler Africa, we go deep into one of the most brutal and misunderstood crime waves in South Africa — farm murders.

Host Paul Llewellyn and forensic psychologist Gerard Labuschagne are joined by veteran detective Gawie “Sakkie” Louwrens, who’s investigated over 300 farm killings. Now retired from SAPS, Sakkie leads an independent rural crime unit taking on what the police can’t — or won’t.

Forget the headlines and poli...

Profiler Africa | Episode Out Now

Who’s really killing who in South Africa?

In one of our most explosive episodes yet, Paul Llewellyn and forensic psychologist Gerard Labuschagne sit down with Dr Chris de Kock, former head of SAPS Crime Research, to pull the mask off one of South Africa’s most politicised crime topics: farm murders.

Forget the hashtags, headlines, and hype. We’re cutting through the myth, the fear, and the politics — ...

We delve into one of the most disturbing familicides in South African history — the Etwatwa family murders.

On May 23, 2013, a 14-year-old boy in Johannesburg’s East Rand took an axe to his mother, grandmother, six-year-old brother, and four-month-old sister. Four lives ended in one night. A quiet street turned crime scene. A community left reeling. And a nation asking: how could a child commit such horror?

We unpack the chilling eve...

This is the case that chilled Johannesburg to the bone.

Between 1989 and 1992, Kobus Geldenhuys — a police officer sworn to protect — unleashed a wave of terror across the city. He raped, murdered, and broke into homes while wearing the badge. By the time it was over, five women were dead, and a community had lost all trust in the uniform.

This week, we dig into how Geldenhuys hid in plain sight, and the twisted psychology that drove...

Psychologist. Intelligence specialist. Co-author of Killer Stories. This week, Paul and Gerard sit down with Brin Hodgskiss for a heavyweight conversation on the dark art of criminal profiling — from Johannesburg to the UK.

Brin’s career spans burglary to terrorism, serial rape to murder, with 15 years in British law enforcement after starting out in SAPS. Now with the NHS, he brings that same insight to storytelling, consulting on ...

No case breakdown. No fluff. Just a gripping conversation with one of the world’s top arson and bombing experts.

We’re joined by Ed Nordskog—retired arson/bomb investigator for the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, FBI instructor, US Marine vet, and author of six essential books on fire-related crime. With over 2,100 arson cases under his belt and profiles on dozens of serial arsonists, Ed is the real deal.

Together with Paul and Ger...

What’s it like creating true crime content in South Africa? This week, we sit down with YouTuber and storyteller Tshego Paledi (44K+ subscribers) for a raw, behind-the-scenes look at life in the local crime content game.

No case breakdowns—just an honest convo about the highs, hate, ethics, and emotional toll of documenting real stories of violence, injustice, and survival.

From the cases that changed her to the criticism she faces, ...

Series Description:South African Serial is a 12-part true crime anthology series. Each episode investigates one unforgettable South African crime.

Episode Description:In our first episode, we unpack the disturbing case of Stewart “Boetie Boer” Wilken — one of South Africa’s most dangerous serial killers. With a history of necrophilia, cannibalism, and a terrifying God complex, Wilken confessed to 12 murders and was convicted of 7.

Th...

This week: one of the rarest — and most horrifying — crimes on earth. A baby ripped from the womb in a violent act of theft.

We go deep into the case of Loretta Cook, a 24-year-old from Toekomsrus, whose web of lies led to murder and left a newborn fighting for life.

South Africa has seen not one, but at least three known caesarean kidnappings — an almost unheard-of crime globally. Why here? Why now?

Gerard Labuschagne and Paul Llewel...

He murdered his family with an axe — thencalmly called emergency services like nothing happened.

We're digging into one of South Africa’s mostshocking crimes: the brutal axe murders committed by 20-year-old Henri van Breda.

In 2015, inside the family’s luxury estate inStellenbosch, Henri killed his parents and brother—and nearly murdered his teenage sister, who somehow survived. The aftermath? A strange 911 call, self-inflicted wound...

We're stepping out of the morgue and into the mind — with one of the world’s top forensic psychologists.

This week on Profiler Africa, our guest is Dr. Helinä Häkkänen, a Finnish powerhouse whose work has shaped war crimes trials, courtroom psychology, and criminal investigations from South Africa to The Hague. With over 60 publications and a career advising the ICC and European law enforcement, she’s the real deal — no drama, just ...

In this episode of Profiler Africa, we take a deep dive into the terrifying case of Stewart Wilken, South Africa's most notorious serial killer. Wilken's killing spree, which spanned the early 1990s, left a trail of horrific murders that shocked the nation. Through an in-depth analysis of his background, his brutal crimes, and the dark psychology behind his actions, we uncover the twisted motivations that drove his reign of...