Norman Afzal Simons, known as the Station Strangler, is a South African murderer,

rapist Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person wh ...

and suspected

serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

in the late 20th century. He was convicted in 1995 of the rape and murder of 10-year-old Elroy van Rooyen in 1995 and sentenced to 35 years in prison. He became eligible for parole in July 2023 and was released on parole and under 24-hour monitoring in November 2023.

Early life and career

Norman Simons was born in Cape Town, South Africa. He was assessed as an intelligent individual, who enjoyed playing classical music and spoke seven languages, including English,

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

and

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

.Serial Killer Crime Index.
/ref> He was employed as a Grade Five teacher at Alpine Primary School in Beacon Valley,

Mitchell's Plain Mitchells Plain is a large census designated sub-place located within the City of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa and situated about from the Cape Town city centre. It is one of South Africa's largest residential areas and contains multi ...

Murders

Simons is believed to have started his sporadic series of murders on 29 October 1986, ending only with his arrest nine years later in April 1994. He collected his moniker after it became apparent that most of his victims were lured away from train stations (Soviet serial killer

Andrei Chikatilo Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo (; ; 16 October 1936 – 14 February 1994) was a Ukrainian-born Soviet serial killer nicknamed "the Butcher of Rostov", "the Rostov Ripper", and "the Red Ripper" who sexual assault, sexually assaulted, murdered, and ...

had a similar ''modus operandi''). Simons raped and sodomised his victims before strangling them. Victims were found face down with their hands tied behind their backs, buried in shallow sandy graves. In some cases, the victims were found with their underwear around their necks, presumably used as a garrote. Hand-written notes were also found next to some victims. Simons' alleged victims were all young boys aged between 9 and 13. Many of them were from the

Khoekhoe Khoikhoi ( /ˈkɔɪkɔɪ/ ''KOY-koy'') (or Khoekhoe in Namibian orthography) are the traditionally nomadic pastoralist indigenous population of South Africa. They are often grouped with the hunter-gatherer San (literally "foragers") peop ...

community. Alleged victims included Elino Sprinkle (11), Donovan Swarts (11), Neville Samaai (13), Jeremy Benjamin (10), Owen Hoofmeester (12), Fabian Willmore (8), Marcelino Cupido (10), and five unidentified victims aged between 10 and 14.

Investigation

Forensic psychologist Forensic psychology is the application of scientific knowledge and methods (in relation to psychology) to assist in answering legal questions that may arise in criminal, civil, contractual, or other judicial proceedings. Forensic psychology includes ...

and criminal profiler

Micki Pistorius Micki Pistorius is a South African forensic or investigative psychologist and author. She was the first woman in her profession and the first profiler in South Africa, working on many high-profile cases involving serial killers for the South A ...

was brought in to assist in the investigation in 1994, and was able to point to Simons as the killer.

Trial, sentencing, and imprisonment

Simons appeared before magistrates in 1995 on one charge of murder and kidnap. His trial lasted three months, leading to a conviction and life sentence. He was sentenced to 35 years (25 for murder and 10 for kidnapping) in prison. He served 28 years of his sentence in Drakenstein Maximum Correctional Facility,

Paarl Paarl (; ; derived from ''parel'', meaning "pearl" in Dutch) is a city with 294,457 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is the largest city in the Boland, Western Cape, Cape Winelands. Due to the growth of the Mbekweni ...

. Simons appealed against his conviction in 1998, but his conviction was upheld. Simons converted to Islam in 1993, taking on the name Afzal, but converted back to Christianity in 1994.Pistorious, M. 2005. ''Profiling Serial Killers and other crimes in South Africa''. Penguin Books, South Africa. page 170.

2005 inquest

In 2005, an inquest was opened into the deaths of the remaining victims. After three years of further analysis, the victims' parents came no closer to an answer. On 9 December 2008, Regional Magistrate Marelize Rolle stated that she believed ''prima facie'' evidence showed Simons was probably responsible for the deaths of at least six of the other victims. However, due to the amount of time that had passed, she ruled out further prosecutions in the case.Cape Argus: ''No further prosecutions for Simons.''
/ref>

Release

Simons was granted parole in July 2023 and was released in November 2023, to the dismay of the Parow community. However, the Parow Community Police Forum chair, who was part of regular meetings before Simon's release, said that he had behaved well and was adhering to his

parole Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...

conditions. He is under house arrest, and is being monitored by a caregiver 24/7 and being treated for a medical condition. He also has regular meetings with the Department of Correctional Services.

In popular culture

The investigation is featured in the 2024 TV series about Micki Pistorius, called '' Catch Me a Killer''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simons, Norman Afzal Converts to Islam from Christianity Converts to Christianity from Islam Living people People convicted of murder by South Africa People from Cape Town South African murderers of children South African people convicted of murder South African rapists Suspected serial killers Violence against men in Africa Rape of males Crime in Cape Town Year of birth missing (living people)