Elias Xitavhudzi was a South African

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

who murdered 16 women in

Atteridgeville Atteridgeville is a township located to the west of Pretoria, South Africa. It is located to the east of Saulsville, to the west of West Park; to the north of Laudium and to the south of Lotus Gardens. The settlement was established in 1939, and ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, in the 1950s. Xitavhudzi targeted only whites in the then-strictly segregated community. His

killing spree A spree killer is someone who commits a criminal act that involves two or more murders or homicides in a short time, in multiple locations. The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics defines a spree killing as "killings at two or more locations wit ...

caused a local sensation during the peak years of South Africa's

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

regime. Prior to his capture, he acquired the nickname "Pangaman" (''panga'' being a local word for the

machete Older machete from Latin America Gerber machete/saw combo Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas, Oaxaca">San_Agustín_de_las_Juntas.html" ;"title="Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San Agustín de las Juntas">Agustín Cruz Tinoco of San ...

with which he mutilated his victims). Xitavhudzi was arrested after selling a stolen watch that had belonged to one of his victims. In prison he confessed to all his crimes. He was quickly tried and convicted of 16 murders.

Sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

, he was

hanged Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging in ...

on 14 November 1960. He was the second in a series of at least a half-dozen serial killers to have plagued the township of

References

1960 deaths 20th-century executions by South Africa Executed South African serial killers People convicted of murder by South Africa People executed by South Africa by hanging People from Pretoria Place of birth missing Racially motivated violence against white people in Africa South African people convicted of murder Year of birth missing {{Crime-bio-stub

See also

References