Horror as woman, 27, gang raped, stabbed 50 times and forced to carry own intestines | World | News

Alison Botha was just 27 when she survived one of the most brutal attacks imaginable in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. What followed was not only his struggle for survival, but also the story of his extraordinary endurance. On December 18, 1994, Alison was out with friends and came home late. As she reached into her car to grab her belongings, a man suddenly forced her way inside. He threatened his life but claimed he only wanted to borrow the car. He suggested she just take the car, but she allegedly said she “wanted friends.”

The attacker, Frans du Toit, drove him away and captured his accomplice, Theuns Kruger. Du Toit, introducing himself by the fake name “Clinton”, slid the driver’s seat forward and said “Meet my friend Susan” when Krugeras got in, referring to Alison, who was also using an alias. Du Toit slowed down near a wooded area and stopped on the sand. Krugeras got out of the car and Clinton then raped Alison. Krugeras also started to attack him but then said “No, I can’t do that” and stopped, accidentally shouting “Frans” at his friend. Alison remembered that name.

Frans then told Alison: “If we take you into the city now you will go to the police”. Du Toit continued: “What do you think Oom Nick would like us to do with him?” Oom Nick is an Afrikaans reference to Satan. Krugeras responded: “I think he wants us to kill him.”

They apologized and strangled him until he lost consciousness. When he regained consciousness, he saw a man’s arm cut off in front of his face and realized his throat had been cut. “I could hear the meat being cut,” he said later. The attackers slit his throat multiple times and stabbed him more than 50 times, tearing his abdomen open.

When the attack ended, Alison managed to roll onto her stomach and play dead. He recalled: “I tried to hold my breath but realized I had no control over my breathing – I lifted my hand to cover my neck – my whole hand disappeared into it, but it seemed to work – the sound was silenced.”

He listened to an attacker say, “Nobody gets out of this alive.”

Midway through the ordeal, Alison described the terrifying moment she realized the extent of her injuries: “It was scary, there was so much of me out there. I tried to pick it all up with my hands but it all slipped away again,” the Daily Mirror reported.

As he tried to control his organs using a piece of clothing, shards of glass and debris cut his palms and knees. Half of his thyroid gland was sticking out of his throat.

Despite his injuries, he managed to stand and move towards the road. He tried to stop passing cars by holding his head up with one hand and his exposed organs with the other. He later said: “My head had fallen back and was almost resting between my shoulder blades.

“I expected to feel something, but I was completely surprised when my hand disappeared inside me, as if I had swallowed myself.”

Finally, a passing driver stopped. Tiaan Eilerd, a local veterinarian, found him, checked his vital signs, and carefully placed the thyroid gland back into his throat. Alison would later call him her “lifeline”.

The vet was surprised he survived. He stated that her condition looked like “a creature out of a Dickens novel” and that her neck was injured “almost from ear to ear”. If Tiaan had not intervened to relocate his thyroid gland, he would have died.

The woman was taken to the hospital, where she underwent extensive surgery and was taken to intensive care.

Remarkably, he survived. The attackers were later arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1995. When news of the attack became public, authorities learned the couple had been released on bail and were facing rape charges.

The two attackers described themselves as devil worshipers and pleaded guilty to kidnapping, sexual assault and attempted murder. Du Toit had sexually assaulted another victim, but “his desire to kill her had diminished” following the rape.

Rather than be defined by the attack, Alison chose to rebuild her life. Despite her attackers deliberately trying to damage her reproductive system, she had two children and became a motivational speaker who shared her story to inspire others. She demonstrated the power of resilience through her book I Have Life and the film Alison.

Reflecting on her journey, she said she hopes her story helps others find strength and believes in “the power of choice that each of us has.”

Alison played a major role in keeping them behind bars for many years. In 2023, both men were released on parole after serving 28 years; Alison said she always dreaded this decision.

However, after intense public reaction in South Africa, this parole decision was reconsidered. As of February 4, 2025, the Department of Corrections revoked parole and both men were returned to prison.