The unidentified serial murderer known as the "Atteridgeville Mutilator" frightened the township near Pretoria in South Africa during the year of 1956. During a five-month period in that year six small boys were abducted and killed in grotesque fashion. Reportedly the victims had their tongues and genitalia cut off in an obvious sexual frenzy.

The Mutilator could be considered the father of South African serial killers. Despite the relatively small population of Atteridgeville it, along with much of the country, have been plagued by repeat slayers during the last two decades, making South Africa one of the serial murder capitals of the world.