Accidental murder
Mariaan’s conscience gets the better of her for killing Ben.
Mariaan (Deirdre Wolhuter) has been trying to sweep her former employee and toyboy lover Ben’s (Louis Auret) January death under the carpet because there’s no way that she’s going to prison again. “Her mind is working in overdrive and she knows that it’s a matter of time before the truth comes out,” explains Deirdre. “And that truth will have consequences that she will not accept.”
SHOCK & AWE
It was an accident, stresses the actress. “He declared his undying love for her after she let him host his 18th birthday party at her house. Mariaan turned him away and went upstairs to her bedroom but when Ben tried to grab her arm and pull her back, he slipped and fell down the stairs and didn’t move on the floor.” But instead of calling the cops, Mariaan found a scapegoat, convincing a drunk
Willem (Markus Haywood) that he killed Ben but that she would help him get rid of the body, claiming that Ben had simply left town if anyone asked where he was. “It was wrong to use Willem to cover up her crime,” adds Deirdre. But because she was in prison last year, no one will believe that it was an accident. Especially when they do some digging and discover that she was in an illicit relationship with him.
TRUE LIES
Mariaan discovers that her well-laid plan is falling apart when Willem decides to report Ben’s death to the police anyway. “She was so sure that he would keep his mouth shut. Now she needs to come up with another plan – she’s going to try paint Willem as a danger to the community. She will have him behaving like a crazy person and when he claims that it was Mariaan who killed Ben, she will fob it off and say that he is lying and unstable, so no one should listen to a word he says. Before he knows it, Willem is booking appointments with shrink Dr Nathan (Vaughn Lucas) instead of going to the cops. But then Ben’s body is discovered…
RUNNING DRY ON LUCK
Convinced that this latest setback is the last one for her, Mariaan breaks down and confesses everything to her son Rickus (André Lotter), from sleeping with Ben to killing him and how she’s manipulated Willem. “He doesn’t know what to say,” reveals André. “He is shocked and doesn’t know how his mom could do something so evil.” But while Mariaan refuses to turn herself in, the police arrive to make an arrest – and they’re not there for her…