True Crime South Africa

PODCAST | Ripples through time: The murder of Joy Aken

14 March 2023 - 12:50 By Nicole Engelbrecht
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Joy Aken accepted a lift home from a man she knew. I would be the last time she was seen alive. Stock photo.
Joy Aken accepted a lift home from a man she knew. I would be the last time she was seen alive. Stock photo.
Image: 123RF/rafaelbenari

In 1956 18-year-old Joy Aken accepted a lift home from a man she knew.

When she climbed into the Ford Anglia on October 2 more than six decades ago, it would be the last time she was seen alive.

Listen to the episode:

For seven days her desperate family mobilised the community of Pinetown in KwaZulu-Natal to search for Aken and her suspected kidnapper, Clarence van Buuren.

When she was eventually found, the outcome was the worst possible scenario.

When Van Buuren was arrested, he claimed innocence, insisting Aken had been the victim of an unknown attacker and he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Almost seven decades later and despite an apparent resolution to the case, the ripples that extend from this crime continue to move through time.

In episode 109 of True Crime South Africa, we explore this vintage true crime case and its lasting legacy.

For more episodes, click here.

Community Intervention Centre (24-hour trauma helpline): 082-821-3447

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E-mail the show: info@killeraudiocreations.com

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