How One False Accusation Gave Birth To A Serial Killer

Mary Holman
ILLUMINATION
Published in
8 min readOct 18, 2021

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Within a short period, the young Moses Sithole had become the most feared and wanted man in South Africa. His reign of terror had never been seen before, and to date, his name remains a nightmare.

South Africa’s most wanted serial killer, Moses Sithole
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Moses Sithole was one of the five children of Simon and Sophie Sithole, born on the 17th of November 1964 in Vosloorus, South Africa.

Though Simon loved his children, it was sometimes difficult for him to provide for them as the primary breadwinner since they lived in a poor neighbourhood, and it was during the Apartheid. Nonetheless, he did his best. Sadly in 1969, he passed away, and Sophie decided she could not take care of the kids alone and abandoned them at the nearest police station just when they needed her the most. Later that day, the state placed them in an orphanage at KwaZulu-Natal.

However, because of power and child abuse within the orphanage, eight-year-old Moses failed to cope and fled to his older brother Patrick after spending only three years. Nonetheless, things did not get any better for him since Patrick did not have a stable source of income.

After only a few days, Moses left to go and work in gold mines despite his age and physical strength. It wasn't long until he began having girlfriends and indulging in sexual relations, possibly influenced by his…

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