A convicted South African murderer who shot dead dozens of black men during apartheid has told the BBC the police sanctioned his violence. Louis van Schoor says others should share the blame for the killings he carried out as a security guard. But in talking to BBC Africa Eye over the past four years, he has also let slip horrifying details that raise serious questions about his early release from prison.<\/p>\n
Standing in the bedroom of a killer, your eyes naturally hone in on the details.<\/p>\n
Van Schoor\u2019s bed is immaculately neat – the duvet so flat it looks like it has been ironed. The air is heavy with the smell of cigarettes, their stubs piled high in an ashtray. Strips of sticky paper are dangling from the ceiling, writhing with trapped and dying flies.<\/p>\n
The so-called \u201cApartheid Killer\u201d has lost his teeth. His health is waning. Following a heart attack, both his legs were recently amputated, leaving him in a wheelchair, with painful scars. When his surgeon carried out this procedure, Van Schoor requested an epidural instead of a general anaesthetic – so he could watch them remove his legs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was curious,\u201d he said, chuckling. \u201cI saw them cutting\u2026 they sawed through the bone.\u201d<\/p>\n
In speaking to the BBC World Service, Van Schoor wanted to persuade us that he is \u201cnot the monster that people say I am\u201d. His enthusiastic description of his legs being removed did little to soften his image.<\/p>\n
Over a three-year period in the 1980s under the country\u2019s racist apartheid system – which imposed a strict hierarchy that privileged white South Africans – Van Schoor shot and killed at least 39 people.<\/p>\n
All of his victims were black. The youngest was just 12 years old. The killings occurred in East London, a city in South Africa\u2019s windswept Eastern Cape.<\/p>\n
Van Schoor was a security guard at the time, with a contract to protect as many as 70% of white-owned businesses: restaurants, shops, factories and schools. He has long claimed that everyone he killed was a \u201ccriminal\u201d who he caught red-handed breaking into these buildings.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a kind of vigilante killer. He was a Dirty Harry character,\u201d says Isa Jacobson, a South African journalist and filmmaker, who has spent 20 years investigating Van Schoor\u2019s case.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese were intruders who were, in a lot of cases, pretty desperate. Digging through bins, maybe stealing some food\u2026 petty criminals.\u201d<\/p>\n