Stand aside Bonnie and Clyde, this tale of two carbon copies is writ large in South Africas criminal history. They were Charmaine Phillips and Pieter Grundlingh and they sowed mayhem in the Orange Free State in 1983.
Grundlingh was originally arrested on an arms charge and bailed. He immediately teamed up with Phillips, a prostitute, and the pair went on the trail, murdering four men in quick succession. They got fresh with me, Miss Phillips told the police when she was captured. And of course, she added, they had money. One of their victims was tied to a tree before he was shot dead.
Police chased them all over the state in a massive manhunt before they were captured. Their crimes, said the trial judge, were staggeringly wicked. Grundlingh, 35, was hanged on Tuesday, July 30th, 1985, in Pretoria Central Prison, but Charmaine Phillips, who was only 19 at the time, was jailed for life in view of her age. She was released on parole in August 2004 after serving nearly 20 years of her four life sentences.