Serial killer who had insatiable lust for blood

By Allan Olingo

He was considered a unique killer as he did not have preferred victims or a weapon of choice and only killed when his bloodthirsty instincts told him to. And he never discriminated on sex, age, profession or race when it came to his victims.

 

Cedric Maake, the erratic killer who was convicted for 27 murders. [PHOTO/online/STANDARD]

Cedric Maoupa Maake killed using a gun, stone or a knife, though he seemed to prefer certain weapons in certain situations. However, he seemed to adhere to his single rule — to hurt and to kill.

Before he was apprehended, Maake had murdered at least 27 people within a span of almost two years.

Born in 1965 in Pietersburg, South Africa in a family of three brothers, one of whom was a policeman, Maake sought employment in Johannesburg while in his early twenties. He became self-employed mostly doing painting jobs. At the time of his arrest, he was married with four children.

In April 1996, Maake is said to have raped and killed an unidentified woman. By April of 1997, he had amassed nearly a dozen attacks on innocent storeowners and in the same month coldly murdered a young couple.

In the months of May and June of 1997, he intensified his targets of couples, while at the same time beginning to lure unsuspecting taxi drivers to remote areas of Johannesburg, where he would gun them down. It became apparent that nobody was safe from this killer who was showing an insatiable lust for blood.

Maake’s differing tools of trade confused detectives for quite some time. When handling male shop owners, he attacked them mostly with a blunt object, usually a rock. But when he went after taxi drivers, he used a gun, as he did when attacking couples.

Weapons of choice

When Maake was faced with single female victims, he liked using a knife and this made authorities think that they had two different serial killers within their radar.

They credited one with the taxi-drivers and storeowner crimes and another they felt was responsible for the attacks and murders of the couples and women.

On July 6, 1997, Johannesburg police announced the possibility of two new serial killers over a series of murders. They suspected one killer was operating near Dunbar while the second one was operating in Wemmer Pan, south of Johannesburg.

The Wemmer Pan killer was believed to be responsible for up to ten murders. Police were considering the possibility that at least two killers were behind the Wemmer Pan murders. Five men and five women had been found murdered at a recreation site since April 1996. Three were bludgeoned to death while six were shot dead.

The then Police spokesman Captain Andy Pieke said they believed these attacks might be connected to different killers.

“There is the possibility more than one serial killer is behind this, but we cannot rule out that all these murders are unrelated. The area is generally a dangerous one,” he said.

“We will only confirm the exact number of bodies which are linked to a serial killer on the day that a suspect is taken to court,” he added.

When evidence from the two investigations began to overlap, police realised the killings were actually from the same person. Authorities eventually targeted Maake, because his DNA periodically matched those at the scenes of crime.

Maake was arrested near Jeppe Railway Station on December 23, in connection with 23 murders. He initially was helpful but soon reversed his stance and denied all of the charges against him. He pleaded not guilty at his trial.

Horriffic behaviour

Surviving female victims testified against him, recalling how he would kick and scream obscenities at them while they were on the ground near death.

His courtroom behaviour was horrific as highlighted by his frequent verbal outbursts. At one point he went as far as threatening the female state prosecutor with the same treatment some of his female victims endured.

Cedric Maake was convicted in September 2000 for 27 murders, 26 attempted murders, 14 rapes, 41 aggravated robberies and dozens of minor offences. He was sent to prison for 1,159 years and three months. His wife and children have since moved to Giyani to stay with relatives.