Subscribe
Daily DispatchDaily Dispatch
Subscribe

WATCH | Serial killers can’t be rehabilitated, says forensic psychologist

Gerhard Labuschagne reflects on the Rosemary Ndlovu case and other well-known SA serial killers

  • TIMESLIVE
1 min read
Video
October 22 2021. Former police officer, Nomia Rosemary sits in the dock ahead of receiving judgement in the high court sitting in Palm Ridge. She is accused of murdering five off her relatives and her lover, Maurice Mabasa between 2012 and 2018. She also faces a string of other charges, including attempted murder or conspiracy to commit murder, defeating the ends of justice and fraud linked to several life and funeral policies she opened on behalf on her relatives.. Picture: Thapelo Morebudi / The Sunday Times.
Rosemary Ndlovu_6329 October 22 2021. Former police officer, Nomia Rosemary sits in the dock ahead of receiving judgement in the high court sitting in Palm Ridge. She is accused of murdering five off her relatives and her lover, Maurice Mabasa between 2012 and 2018. She also faces a string of other charges, including attempted murder or conspiracy to commit murder, defeating the ends of justice and fraud linked to several life and funeral policies she opened on behalf on her relatives.. Picture: Thapelo Morebudi / The Sunday Times. Picture: Thapelo Morebudi

Forensic psychologist Dr Gerard Labuschagne is doubtful that convicted killer police officer Nomia Rosemary Ndlovu will be rehabilitated by her time in prison.

Labuschagne was reflecting on the most well-known serial killers in SA, ranging from Moses Sithole to “Boetie Boer”.

Serial killers in SA and around the globe are nothing new, but the Ndlovu case caught the attention of the SA public — possibly because female serial killers in SA are far less common.

That Ndlovu was a woman and having been a police officer, made her case stand out. She also killed family members, which, according to Labuschagne, is not common among most serial killers.

Unlike most serial killers, Ndlovu hired people to do her dirty work for her, but she was ultimately charged with six counts of murder and sentenced to a total of 275 years’ imprisonment.

Criminologist Nirmala Gopal agrees that the Ndlovu case was unusual, partly due to her odd behaviour.

“One thing that stood out for me was that Rosemary behaved quite bizarrely in court. And the question here is whether there is some kind of mental incapacity, or is she seeking attention and trying to divert from the actual crime itself?” Gopal said.

TimesLIVE