In 1996 South African police sergeant Uyselen Nel killed his wife and two toddler sons in cold-blood, much like the Greek hero committed familicide when in a fit of rage and madness he killed his wife and sons with arrows. Apollo demanded Hercules to master several tribulations before his spirit could be cleansed of the evil. Uyselen Nel had many internal demons to conquer before he could find his peace. Unlike Hercules he did not claim insanity, but pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison. After 15 years of incarceration he contacted me to conduct a parole evaluation. Although he killed three people, he was not a serial killer – serial killers’ motives are so deeply buried in the subconscious, not even they are aware of them. Uyselen committed familicide and infanticide and the motives for these are usually financial ( inheritance), revenge for adultery, or a new love interest and the family becomes a burden. Was Uyselen Nel a cold-blooded psychopath or not? The find the answer I had to unravel the thread back to his childhood.
Uyselen Nel grew up in a militaristic home environment. Although his father was a medical doctor, he was a strict authoritarian who expected complete compliance from his wife and four children. He was also a police reservist, a hunter and had a gun collection of over 40 weapons. Uyselen was taught to shoot as a toddler and by 8-years old he already owned his own firearm. He often accompanied his father on hunting trips, so he grew up killing animals. He achieved provincial colours for target shooting at the age of 16, to gain his father approval and attention that he craved so much, but he was disappointed for his father never attended his sporting activities. He told me he became addicted to guns and noticed the calming effect that discharging a gun had on him, from a very early age.
Shortly after his arrest Uyselen was evaluated by a few psychologists for court purposes. It was interesting to compare the results of his 1996 psychometry to the results of my psychometry in 2011. Was there any improvement or changes to his personality after 15 years in prison?
One of the psychologists that had evaluated him in 1996, Mr Chris Breedt noted Uyselen’s ego-defence mechanism of introjection; the internalization of the qualities of an object. Mr Breedt found Uyselen had internalized qualities of his father, in order to avoid the conscious knowledge of the emotional distance between them and the accompanying loss. I agree that Uyselen hero-worshipped his father, who was not only a hunter, but also a police reservist – an archetypal warrior, like Hercules. His destiny to one day kill his family like Hercules, seemed to be already plotted by the Fates.
In the 1980’s South African white males were conscripted but had the choice between joining the Defence Force or the Police Force. In 1986 Uyselen chose the Police Force, for his father was a reservist and he loved guns. Soon he was transferred to the Gun where he worked as an apprentice. He told me he enjoyed this tremendously. He continued target shooting as his sport. He volunteered night shifts at the Flying Squad at the Collision Unit. He was eventually transferred to the Collision Unit in Pretoria and worked there from 1989 until 1994.
Uyselen described the period at the Collision Unit in his career as such: “It actually was a dream job, that is if you can handle all the corpses. I quickly became emotionally detached. A person cannot believe how quickly you become use to seeing corpses. It was only the most mutilated and gruesome of scenes that still had that shocking impact on you. That and the corpse of a young infant or baby, nobody made jokes at an accident scene where those were present, but all other corpses were fair game for humorous barbs.” He told me at some accident scenes there were multiple bodies, even 11 at one scene.”.
Whilst working at the Collision Unit, he was also doing normal patrol duty. He always had his riffle behind his seat and confessed to me he would shoot cats, other animals and road signs at random. He poached animals and killed sheep next to the road. He slaughtered these animals at a colleague’s home. The colleague also had a tannery business and would pay him for exotic hides, or owls and carrion birds. He said his father hated cats. He was acutely aware of the stress relief effect he experienced when he discharged a firearm. “I really loved pulling a trigger.” He became a junior Springbok in target shooting in 1995.
Clearly having been exposed to guns since he was a toddler, the fact that his self-worth was centered around his achievements as a marksman and the fact that he was not only desensitized at seeing bodies and enjoyed killing, was a ticking time-bomb. Uyselen had learnt there was only one way to solve a problem – violently. He had no coping skills.
He met his wife Natasha in 1990 and by 1991 they were married and expecting their first baby. He told me marriage was fun before the birth of his first son Marius. He was excited but could not bond with the baby. He resented his mother-in-law’s interference and requested a transfer to the Internal Stability Unit in Port Elizabeth. It was granted and he moved to the town of Uitenhage, close to Port Elizabeth. His hopes of his marriage improving did not realize. A second son Robin was born and he felt closer to Robin.
At the end of 1995 he was part of a group sent to Umtata as a reaction force due to sporadic violent outbreaks. During that time he found an abandoned AK-47 in a government vehicle and he took it home. He told me when he took possession of the AK-47 he began toying with the idea to kill his wife. He told me he thought killing his children was not such a problem as they belonged to him anyway. Rationalizing the killing of his wife was more difficult. He admitted to me her life insurance policy did come into the equation.
Then the couple received the devastating news that Marius was suffering from leukaemia. This strengthened Uyselen’s resolve to kill the whole family.
On Saturday 10 February 1996 he went to his father’s house in the morning to build a tow rack for his motorcycle. He began drinking early for he knew he would not be able to commit the murder sober. He returned home and collected his family and also placed the AK-47 in the boot of the car. They attended the barbeque at his father’s home and when it was time to go home he informed his wife they had to drive to Despatch to tow the motorbike to someone who was interested in buying it. This was around 9pm. Along a deserted stretch of the road he stalled the car. He got out, lit a cigarette and made as if to inspect the engine. He disabled the car. He attempted to restart it. He told his wife he was going to take the motorbike and drive to his father’s home to fetch the truck to tow their car. He unhooked the bike.
He opened the boot and took out the AK-47. Uyselen described what happened next as follows:
“I cocked the slide and chambered a round. At this point I was standing behind the vehicle and facing backwards with the gun in my extended right hand and pointing the muzzle downwards. I do not know how long I was standing like that, it may have been 15 seconds or 30, what I do remember is that at that point I had serious doubts about shooting my family. While I was standing there, my right hand was steadily increasing its pressure on the grip of the firearm. This was not a voluntary action. Then suddenly, without me wanting to pull the trigger, the firearm discharged a round right next to my foot. When that round went off, I felt the shrapnel from the tar hit my leg and I heard the explosion from the muzzle, I reacted instinctively. I turned round and in a flash I shot two rounds through my wife. I then moved to the passenger side where I shot my eldest son, Marius. At this stage I registered that Robin was screaming. I wanted him to be quiet because his screaming was chilling and cut me to the bone. It was the single most frightening and appalling sound I had ever experienced. Then I shot Robin who was on the back seat. This whole tragedy happened in less than 4 or 5 seconds. I can remember this because it is an act that appals me and I will never forget the insanity of it for the rest of my life. I willingly took the life of three innocent people who trusted me for their safety and the guilt still kills me at times. I cannot say whether I still would have committed the crime if the shot did not go off in the first place. I do know this: the first shot into the ground right next to me definitely was the catalyst that set me in motion. I know this is not an excuse; it is only another cog in a chain of events that should not have happened. I can never justify this action of mine. It was an appalling, unpardonable crime for which I had to pay.”
It did not take the detectives long to determine the murder was not a blotched terrorist robbery. They arrested Uyselen who confessed immediately, but he tried to avoid accountability by claiming the first fired round was a suicide attempt. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
In St Albans prison – the same prison where Steward Wilken was incarcerated – Uyselen was accommodated in the single cells. Being a police officer his life would have been worthless if he was placed with the other criminals. He began repairing electrical appliances to relieve his boredom and assisted the prison electrician to such a point where he was allocated an office and eventually he became responsible for the electrical maintenance of the prison.
He also began reading all the books in the library and decided to study. He received a bachelor’s degree in education in 2008 while still in custody, an N6 industrial electronics qualification in 2001, and a national diploma in mechanotechnics engineering.
Interestingly at some time a prison cat moved into his cell. Since he was lonely, he began caring for this cat, and the prison wardens would pay him in cat food for repairing their private electronic equipment. He had three cats in prison and loved them. This was the same man who, during his police career had killed cats and other animals just for fun. I have previously in my article on Boy-Soldiers explained if one changes one’s behaviour or action, then emotion and reason would follow. This principle can also be followed by converting bullying behaviour.
Comparing the 1996 psychometry to my 2011 psychometry it showed Uyselen’s IQ had improved from average to genial – especially his verbal IQ – he had learnt how to communicate. Also the psychometry indicated he was not a psychopath and there were several indications of guilt and remorse. Uyselen had moved on from a man whose only solution to a problem was violence, to a mature man who could find alternative solutions through communication, extended gratification of needs, and he showed insight into the needs of others. He did not expect his in-laws to forgive him and showed insight into their pain, loss and anger – the anniversary of the deaths would be their day to visit the graves, not his.
I wrote in my report it must be noted that Uyselen Nel had spent the past 15 years in a dangerous environment, which presented ample opportunity for any anti-social tendencies to manifest. Yet, the wardens all noted in these 15 years he had never broken a rule, not joined gangs, never smuggled contraband, never stole an item, never complained and was a model prisoner. He even assisted them in averting a prison riot.
He knew he had to give up guns, for it would only invoke his previous trigger-happy personality. In prison he had formed a relationship with a woman he knew when they lived in the police barracks before he was married. She was a divorcee with two children who visited him regularly. His love for guns was replaced by his love for this woman. He had something to look forward to.
I interviewed his family and found a metamorphosis. His father had sold his gun collection and apologised for his authoritarian behaviour towards them. The family now communicated and had forgiven Uyselen. They integrated his new finance. He had a place to go home to.
After several parole hearings, and 19 years in prison, he was finally released in October 2014, ten years ago. Shortly after his release he married his fiance and he worked as an electrician. Then on 31 November 2015 after scarcely a year of freedom, he was electrocuted in the roof of a home where he was working.
Natasha’s parents were relieved at the news of his death, his own family and new bride were devastated. Social media buzzed with comments that he had met a justified ending and others called for forgiveness.
Would Apollo have been satisfied that Hercules had cleansed his spirit from evil? Forensic psychologists are not there to condone, condemn or to judge.
Top image: Hercules kills his son while Megara stands by (from the Villa Torre de Palma near Monforte, 3rd-4th century AD, National Archaeology Museum of Lisbon, Portugal) (CC BY-SA 2.0)
