Themba Anton SUKUDE
AKA "The Newcastle serial murderer"
Classification: Serial killer
Characteristics: Rape - Robberies
Number of victims: 4
Date of murders: 2004 - 2005
Date of birth: 1975
Victims profile: Men
Method of murder: Beating with rocks
Location: Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Status: Sentenced to five life sentences in prison (minimum 25 years) on April 24, 2006
Shrink sinks serial killer
April 25, 2006
A Newcastle serial murderer and rapist became the first person in South Africa to be convicted of crimes attributed to him only by a psychologist's linkage analysis.
Themba Sukude was convicted on Tuesday of two murders and two rapes after witnesses testified against him.
However, no "conventional" evidence was given against Sukude for an additional two murders and an aggravated robbery.
The linkage analysis was accepted by Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Vivienne Niles-Duner who heard evidence against Sukude to convict him of six crimes and, at the same time, convict him on the strength of the linkage analysis which described his criminal pattern of behaviour.
The psychologist, Dr Gerard Labuschagne, said that Sukude had been creeping up on couples having sex, bludgeoning the heads of the men and then raping the women.
The crimes were committed in Newcastle's Trim Park from February 2003 to January 2005.
'Revolting in the extreme'
Niles-Duner said that Sukude, 31, should never be released from prison.
"Your murders were committed in a way which revolts in the extreme.
"You left the two women you raped traumatised and scarred for life, not only for the rapes but for the ghastly circumstances before the rapes.
"You have shown no respect for human life," she said.
Labuschagne, of the investigative psychology unit of the police's serious and violent crimes head office, said that linkage analysis was a powerful tool in the detection and prosecution of serial murderers and rapists.
The discipline could be used to identify which murders and rapes were committed by one person.
A serial murderer was one who had murdered at least two people at different times and often these murders had a sexual component.
Behaviour varies with experience
Typically, such offenders did not stop until arrested, and they continued to commit crimes in spite of police investigations.
Their behaviour could vary with their experience, intelligence and motivation.
As with many other human behaviours, the repetitive nature of their crimes gave them a sense of familiarity and control that allowed them to focus more intently on sexual and/or aggressive motives as the crimes continued.
News24.com
Serial killer "was identified"
May 3, 2006
Serial murderer and rapist Themba Sukude of Newcastle, who was convicted in Pietermaritzburg High Court on four counts of murder, was identified as the assailant in two murders.
Judge Vivienne Niles-Duner, who heard the case, has pointed out that his conviction was not based on a forensic psychologist's linkage analysis, but on the fact that Sukude had been identified.
The surrounding facts and circumstances of two subsequent murders - the third and fourth killings - bore such a striking similarity to the first two murders as to lead to the irresistible inference that he was the perpetrator.
'Linkage analysis' traps serial killer
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
Tue, 25 Apr 2006
A Newcastle serial murderer and rapist on Tuesday became the first person in South Africa to be convicted of crimes attributed to him only by a psychologist's linkage analysis.
He was convicted on Tuesday of two murders and two rapes after witnesses testified against him.
However, no "conventional" evidence was given against him for an additional two murders and an aggravated robbery.
The linkage analysis was accepted by Pietermaritzburg high court judge Vivienne Niles-Duner who heard evidence against the accused to convict him of six crimes and at the same time convict him on the strength of the linkage analysis which described his criminal pattern of behaviour.
The psychologist, Dr Gerard Labuschagne, said that through linkage analysis, the serial criminal, Themba Sukude, had committed the atrocities by creeping up on copulating couples, suddenly bludgeoning the heads of the men and then raping the women.
The crimes were committed in the Newcastle Trim Park from February 2003 to January 2005.
Niles-Duner said that Sukude, 31, should never be released from prison.
"Your murders were committed in a way which revolts in the extreme. You left the two women you raped traumatised and scarred for life, not only for the rapes but for the ghastly circumstances before the rapes.
"You have shown no respect for human life," she said.
Labuschagne, of the investigative psychology unit of the police's serious and violent crimes head office, said that linkage analysis was a powerful tool in the detection and prosecution of serial murderers and rapists.
The discipline could be used to identify which murders and rapes were committed by one person.
A serial murderer was one who had murdered at least two people at different times and often these murders had a sexual component.
Typically such offenders did not stop until arrested, and they continued to commit crimes in spite of police investigations.
New 'powerful' tool in fight against crime
April 26 2006
Psychological linkage analysis, accepted on Tuesday for the first time in South African legal history by the Pietermaritzburg High Court to convict a serial murderer and rapist, gives investigators and prosecutors a powerful tool in their fight against crime.
Police psychologist Gerard Labuschagne told The Mercury this on Tuesday after the conviction and sentencing of Newcastle serial rapist and murderer, Themba Sukude, 31, who was given five life terms by Judge Vivienne Niles-Duner.
Labuschagne told the court that Sukude's creeping up on couples engaged in sex, battering the heads of the male partners and then raping the women were his "signature", tantamount to Sukude leaving his calling card.
He said that linkage analysis could identify which serial rapes and murders were committed by one person.
Sukude was convicted of six crimes after evidence was given against him by witnesses.
However, in the same trial he was convicted of two more murders and an aggravated robbery solely on the strength of Labuschagne's linkage analysis also finding that he had committed these crimes.
No physical evidence was given and no witnesses testified against Sukude for the additional murder and robbery counts.
Niles-Duner imposed five life sentences on Sukude - four for murder and one for the rape of a girl under the age of 16.
He also received 10 years' jail for another rape, 15 years on each of two counts of aggravated robbery and 12 months for malicious damage to property.
The judge said she hoped Sukude would be kept in prison for the rest of his life and ordered that he serve 25 years before being considered for parole.
She said that the murders were revolting. He had also left two rape victims traumatised and scarred for life, not only by the rapes but also by the trauma caused by the ghastly circumstances before them.
Labuschagne, of the Serious and Violent Crimes head office, said a serial murderer was someone who had murdered at least two people at different times.
Often, these murders had a sexual component.
Such criminals did not usually stop until they were arrested, and continued perpetrating crimes despite police activity.
Their behaviour could vary with their experience, intelligence and motivation.
The repetitive nature of their crimes gave them a sense of familiarity and control, and allowed them to focus more intently on sexual and/or aggressive motives as the crimes continued.
Serial offenders had "comfort zones" and tended to operate in the same place or nearby, despite police activity.
Serial murderers tended to keep to one method of killing - Sukude used heavy rocks to bludgeon the heads of four men in Newcastle's Trim Park from February 2004 to January 2005.
He had targeted black women to rape and his murder victims were three Africans and one Indian.
Labuschagne had used various sources to arrive at his conclusion that Sukude was the serial killer and rapist.
These included consultations with the investigating officer, visits to the crime scenes, police dockets, an interview with a victim, scientifically accepted re-search, previous experience in serial crime investigations, and post-doctoral research.
