Murder of two friends now on Showmax

The story of two girls who were killed in 2018 has been turned into a 90-minute crime documentary for Showmax in a bid to make gender-based violence part of a nationwide conversation.

Stella Murders, a true crime documentary from David Enright and Idea Candy, is set to premier on Showmax on March 17. The doccie investigates the deaths of best friends Sharnelle Hough, 17, and Marna Engelbrecht, 16, who were killed at their hostel at Stella High School in rural North West. Their bodies were found on May 26 2018. Hough was found hanging at a staircase and Engelbrecht's body was discovered in a bathroom. Both deaths were initially thought to have been suicides.

Stella is a quaint cattle ranching town 48km north Vryburg. Xander Bylsma, who was 19 in 2018, was sentenced to two life sentences in 2020 for the murder of his ex-girlfriend Hough and Bylsma's cousin, Engelbrecht. The pair were killed in early hours of Saturday when they stayed behind when other boarders had gone  to their homes for the weekend. 

“Stella Murders is a heart-wrenching story. It deals with every parent’s worst fear. The production was made with co-operation from Sharnelle and Marna’s families, who hoped their story would prevent similar tragedies,” said Yolisa Phahle, CEO of Showmax and Connected Video at MultiChoice.

Interviewees in the story include family members of the victims, police officers, private investigators and the prosecutor.

Clinical psychologist Elmarie Claassens, who is in the documentary, said: “In such a close-knit community, danger is expected to come from the outside. But the thing about danger is that it doesn’t come exclusively from the outside.”

Enright said: “While working on Stella Murders, it became important for us to understand if there was any form of emotional healing for the families and community that experienced this trauma. It became clear that the impact of this tragic event was far-reaching and calls for important reflection on the culture that cultivates gender-based violence. Hopefully this documentary will not only highlight some of the red flags to look out for, but will also become part of the nationwide conversation about the shameful levels of violence against women in SA.”