Crime series reveals sinister side
of sports

As the world unites to celebrate the pinnacle of athletic achievement at the 2024 Paris Olympics today, Showmax is set to release a new true crime documentary series, Dark Side of Glory. The show uncovers shocking criminal acts of the sporting world.

The first episode of the Showmax Original, The Durban Axe Murderer: The Rugby Killer, follows Joseph Ntshongwana, who played for South Africa at U21 level and for the Blue Bulls between 1998 and 2001. Ten years later, he was arrested for killing four men with an axe, and wounding two others. Joseph claimed to be avenging the gang rape and subsequent HIV infection of his daughter, but it was later found by police that he had no children.

“There’s a saying that goes, ‘He couldn’t hurt a fly,’” says his former Blue Bulls teammate, Springbok winger McNeil Hendricks. “It’s hard to believe that Joseph Ntshongwana, as we knew him, had chopped people’s heads off.”

Other interviews include captain Rico Naidoo, colonels Jason McGray and Ze-Ev Krein, detective Marius Van Der Looy, and former South African Police Service head profiler Dr Gérard Labuschagne, as well as senior state advocate Nadira Moosa, psychiatrist ​​Dr Zuber Moola, rugby journalist Brenden Nel, and key witnesses. 

The film director, Arianna Perretta, says: “I felt it was crucial to ensure that the testimonies of the victims and witnesses in The Durban Axe Murderer were heard. Fikile Mkhwanazi, the partner of murder victim Paulus Hlongwa, sharing her story was particularly powerful.” 

The second episode, Death in the Heartlands, investigates the murder of three female runners in Kenya in 2021: Edith Muthoni, a day later Agnes Tirop, and six months later Damaris Muthee Mutua. All had allegedly been killed by the men closest to them – their partners or coaches. 

Two of the murders happened in the elite running community of Iten, known as the Home of Champions. Tirop, an Olympian and two-time World Athletic Championship medallist, was found stabbed to death in her home there – soon after clinching a 10,000m world record in Germany. She would have been a favourite at the Paris Olympics. 

Dr Yetsa Tuakli-Wosornu, a Yale academic, says: “The culture of elite sport is that we celebrate tunnel vision in order to pursue our goal. But then we become highly vulnerable.”

Other interviews include Directorate of Criminal Investigation inspector Andolo Munga; coach Joseph Cheromei; Agnes’ family and neighbours; and Olympian Viola Cheptoo Lagat, who co-founded Tirop’s Angels to stand in unity against gender-based violence. 

Perretta says: “Death in the Heartlands exposes the harsh challenges young, especially female, athletes face and celebrates the resilience and courage of the women who have organised to challenge the culture and system around elite running in Kenya.

“Dark Side of Glory puts the spotlight on the real voices behind these cases, from the relentless Durban police team that brought Joseph Ntshongwana to justice, to the courageous friends and families of Agnes Tirop, Edith Muthoni, and Damaris Muthee, who exposed the exploitation of female athletes. These are raw, powerful, and shocking stories.”

The first episode of Dark Side of Glory streams on Showmax from 31 July 2024, with the second a week later.