DURBAN – A 26-minute documentary showing at the Durban International Film Festival has told the story of how a Wentworth woman scammed a US man out of millions of dollars.
Written, directed and produced by Julie Laurenz and Terence Pillay, Magdalene’s Lies, the film bio reads: "To some Magdalene is a 'Mother Teresa'; to others she is a rotten crook. When a global pandemic ravages her community, the real Magdalene is revealed."
Magdalene Turner is a mother of three who fabricated a story about developing cancer and losing her son and sister.
Turner meets an American man, who is known only as “Michael” in the doccie, through her work for various NGOs. The two become friends and he began giving her money.
Turner then claims to have been diagnosed with cancer and after one of her sons die, supposedly after taking her cancer medication, she too dies. The man continues to give money to her family and even buys a house for Turner's remaining sons.
He is told that Turner's sister will move into the house and then is told that she, too, dies after falling down a flight of steps and hurting her back.
However, an investigation reveals that Turner's story was all a lie. Through social media posts, Laurenz and Pillay pieced together how Turner swindled the American man.
Speaking to The Post, Laurenz said after working on productions like Carte Blanche and Special Assignment, she had a gut feeling on the matter.
"It was literally when I spoke to her, and you can even pick this up in the documentary, that the minute I heard her voice over the phone, I knew. It’s an instinct that comes from years and years of doing these kind of stories. You don’t want to be disappointed, but as it turns out it was true," she said.
The documentary is available on the Durban International Film Festival website and is free to watch.
Terence Pillay passed away earlier this year.
IOL