The Society Murders is a historical drama which premiered on Australian television (Network Ten) in 2006.
This drama is based on a true story. The topic is a double murder which took place in Melbourne, Australia, in April 2002.
The victims were Margaret Wales-King (68) and her second husband Paul King (75).
Since Margaret Wales-King was a rich socialite, the case became known as the Society Murders.
Here is some basic information about this drama:
** Director: Brendan Maher
** Writers: Kyle Needham and Greg Haddick
** Based on the book The Society Murders by Hilary Bonney (2003)
** Run time: 93 minutes
The cast includes the following:
The first group
** Georgie Parker as Emma Connell
** Alex Dimitriades as Robert Nazaretian
** Nicolas Eadie as Damian Wales
** Asher Keddie as Prue Reed
** Matthew Le Nevez as Matthew Wales
** Daniela Farinacci as Maritza Wales
The second group
** Julia Blake as Margaret Wales-King (victim)
** Terry Norris (1930-2023) as Paul King (victim)
Since this drama is based on a true story, the basic facts are part of the public record. They are not a secret. This is why I feel free to mention some of them here.
While this drama is based on a true story, it is not a documentary film. It is a dramatized version of events. Not everything happened exactly as shown here. But the basic story is true.
When a rich woman and her second husband are killed, it is obvious that the
police will want to investigate members of her family who stand to inherit her
fortune. Her children and their spouses.
One member of the family behaves in an odd way when he is interviewed: the son Matthew Wales. After a while, he confesses. He is the killer.
He says he killed his mother and her husband, because the mother always used her money to manipulate the members of her family.
He thinks the other members of the family will regard him as a hero, because he has silenced the dominating matriarch of the family, but this is not the case.
They hate him for doing this.
Matthew Wales is charged and tried in court of law. His wife Maritza Wales is also charged and tried in a court of law. Perhaps she was also involved in the crime?
The verdict in both cases is issued in April 2003. The judge sentences Matthew Wales to 30 years in prison, with a non-parole period of 24 years.
According to the judge, Maritza Wales is not directly involved in the crime, but she knew what her husband had done and she failed to report this information to the police.
Her sentence is two years on probation. This means she does not have to go to prison if she does not violate any law during this period.
In this drama, we follow the case from the beginning to the end; from the murder in April 2002 to the end of the trial in April 2003.
What do reviewers say about it?
On IMDb it has a rating of 57 percent
On Amazon there are at the moment 14 ratings of this product, 13 with reviews.
The average rating is 2.8 stars which corresponds to a rating of 56 percent.
As you can see, the two ratings are almost identical. In my opinion, they are quite appropriate.
This drama is neither great nor good. It is average. I think it deserves a rating of three stars (60 percent).
PS. Apparently, Maritza did not violate any law while she was on probation. But in 2007, she was in trouble again:
In 2006, she stole a diamond ring from the change room of a Kew swimming pool and pawned it for cash.
The value of the ring was 8,000 dollars. Maritza pawned it for 400 dollars!
This new case was tried in a court of law in February 2007. The judge sentenced her to six weeks in jail, suspended for 12 months. In addition, she had to pay back the 400 dollars.
*****
The Society Murders:
The True story of the Wales-King Murders
By Hilary Bonney
(2003)
*****
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