Brydon Brandt

Brydon Brandt (born 15 April 1964) is a South African serial killer who murdered at least four people in the Eastern Cape between 1989 and 1997.

Brandt was born on 15 April 1964 in Welkom, the sixth of seven children.

He alleged that his mother had undiagnosed mental illnesses including depression, and that she breastfed him until the age of nine.

He also claimed his father was a violent man who encouraged his sons to fight.

Brydon, being the youngest son, did not fare well in these brawls.

To discipline them, his father reportedly tied his children to a chair and beat them with a sjambok.

He abused his wife as well.

When Brydon turned 10, he said his second oldest brother began to molest him, and his oldest brother forced the younger brothers to engage in incest with their sisters.

The family kept to themselves, and the children were not allowed to make friends with other children outside the household.

The Department of Welfare eventually caught on to the abuse, and several of the Brandt children, including Brydon, were removed from the household.

Brandt was sent to an industrial school, where he claimed he was sodomized by other boys.

He also got in trouble for assaulting a teacher.

After completing grade 10, he became a soldier for the South African National Defense Force (SANDF).

In the army, he said he was part of the Military Police, who are responsible for supervising other soldiers, and investigating crimes and disciplinary problems within the departments of defence.

By 1984, Brandt was 20 and unemployed.

In March of that year, he was arrested in Kroonstad for crimen injuria and received a four-month suspended sentence.

In October, he was caned for stealing jewellery.

In 1986, he received a three-month suspended sentence or a fine of R300 for stealing a bicycle.

He moved to Port Elizabeth with a brother the following year and, within weeks of arriving, he was fined R50 for hitting someone with a brick.

In 1988, he was fined R100 for malicious damage to property after breaking a mirror of the hotel room he was occupying.

The next year, he was pulled over while drunk driving and sentenced to 50 days in prison or a R50 fine.

On 9 December 1989, Brandt met Jean Natlazo, a prostitute, at Palmerston Nightclub.

The two talked for a while before deciding to go to a municipal building, where they engaged in sex.

When the act was over, they reportedly argued over how much money he owed Natlazo.

Brandt then became aggravated and fatally stabbed her with a knife.

The following day, Natlozo's body was found naked below the waist and lying on her back on the building's stairs.

Her autopsy found that she had severe lacerations to the vagina, indicating she may have been raped with a foreign object.

On 5 January 1990, Brandt met Sarie Schoeman and two other prostitutes at the Station Bar.

After drinking together, the three women got into his car, and he drove them to a roadside table along Marine Drive.

There, they discussed prices in exchange for sex acts.

Brandt chose to pay for Schoeman's services, and the two drove off, leaving the other two prostitutes by the roadside.

Brandt eventually pulled over in a remote area, where he inserted a wine bottle into Schoeman's vagina.

He then struck her on the head with a rock, fracturing her skull and killing her.

Schoeman's friends, who were still at the table, saw Brandt drive past them again, except that time, he was alone and there was a dent in his car's bumper.

Sensing something was amiss, the two women walked up Marine Drive to look for Schoeman, and they found her body along the road shortly afterwards, hidden in shrubbery.

After removing the wine bottle from her vagina, they fled the scene and did not report the murder to the police.

He first murdered two prostitutes after picking them up from bars in Port Elizabeth, then a female roommate in 1996.

The next year, he murdered a male roommate during an argument and was arrested after other residents of the boarding house alerted the police.

He subsequently confessed to all of the murders and pleaded guilty to them in 1999.

He is now serving four life sentences.