Two former landlords of paedophile Brian Shofer believe he was the Station Strangler.
|||Cape Town - Two former landlords of paedophile Brian Shofer believe he was the Station Strangler.
Shofer hanged himself in the holding cells of Lentegeur Police Station last Friday, after he was charged with raping a 17-year-old boy.
The school teacher was arrested in London Village, Mitchells Plain, after his 70-year-old landlord saw his story in the newspapers and reported him to police.
Shofer made headlines after he advertised tutoring services for children on the internet.
It has since been revealed that self-confessed paedophile had been teaching at numerous Cape Flats schools after his release from jail in 2010.
His London Village landlord now believes he may have been the notorious Station Strangler, who terrorised the Cape Flats between 1986 and 1994.
The pensioner said Shofer “was loose on the Flats” during the same time.
Another landlord, Muhammad Effendi, who contacted the Daily Voice after seeing Shofer in the news, agrees with him.
“He told me he was arrested and sentenced for having sex with two 16-year-old girls, [this was] not the truth, as I have read in the paper since last week,” a shocked Effendi said.
According to Effendi, Shofer was arrested in 1994, the same year as convicted killer and Station Strangler, Norman Simons.
Simons, also a former school teacher, was sentenced to 25 years for murder and 10 years for kidnapping, after the decomposing bodies of 22 boys were found across the Cape Flats.
But Simons was only convicted of one murder – that of nine-year-old Elroy van Rooyen.
The young victims were all sodomised and found face down in shallow graves with their hands tied behind their backs.
Criminal experts believe Simons had a partner, but this accomplice was never found.
“There cannot be any coincidence. Shofer preyed on boys all over the Cape Flats and the moment he was in jail, the Station Strangler was gone,” said Effendi.
“Experts and forensics reports continually questioned Simon’s conviction. I do not think he was the Station Strangler. Shofer fits that profile to perfection.”
Effendi said he first met Shofer six years ago, when he advertised a room to let on Gumtree.
“Brian Shofer called, begging for the room for himself and another parolee. I would have to take responsibility as their carer, making sure they abided by the parole rules. I felt sorry for them, I felt they deserved a second chance.”
Effendi said two weeks after they moved into the Maitland flat, a frantic Shofer called him, saying the parole officer had given him four hours to vacate because there were children on the premises.
He then moved him to a property in Lansdowne.
He says Shofer paid rent from money he received from his father’s trust.
“But by December 2011 he was three months in arrears,” said Effendi.
Shofer found a job in January 2012, but neighbours started complaining about his “wild parties”.
During an on-site visit, he was shocked to learn that three young boys were living with Shofer.
“He told me that the two youngsters living with him were his trainees and that they were soon moving. He also informed me that the 12-year-old boy staying with him was left in his care by the child’s mother.”
February 26, 2012 was the last time he saw Shofer in person, after the paedophile moved to Matroosfontein.
“I always wondered why Brian, a white man, had moved to such an underprivileged and gang-infested area like Matroosfontein.
“I was always baffled by it. Now I know the truth,” he added.
Daily Voice
