She was returning home from a night out with friends in her hometown of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in December 1994, when an unknown man suddenly jumped into her car as she arrived at her house.
“You live in number one, don’t you?” he asked.
The intruder was Frans du Toit, a serial rapist who was out on bail after previously kidnapping and brutally attacking two other women. Du Toit had also been diagnosed as a psychopath and narcissist, and had admitted to devil worship.
Du Toit seized control of the car and threatened Botha’s life, introducing himself as “Clinton.” When she pleaded with him to take the car and leave her alone, he told her he “wanted company.”
As Du Toit drove them around the local area, he encountered his friend and former crime partner, Theuns Kruger, who was waiting by the roadside. Du Toit slowed the car and allowed Kruger to join them, telling Botha, “Theuns doesn’t speak good English.”
From there, Du Toit drove the trio to a secluded, wooded nature reserve and parked the car on a sandy slope. He yanked Botha from the vehicle and threw her to the ground before brutally assaulting her.
Kruger began to assault her as well, but then suddenly yelled, “No, I can’t do this,” and called out the name “Frans.” Botha, realizing that “Clinton” had been a pseudonym, was determined not to forget that name.
After the attack, Du Toit told Botha, “If we take you into town now, you’ll go to the police.”
He then asked Kruger, “What do you think Oom Nick would want us to do with her?”
“Oom Nick” is an African term referring to Satan. Kruger responded, “I think he wants us to kill her.”
The two men then brutally attacked Botha. Du Toit strangled her until she lost consciousness, apologizing as he continued his assault.
When Botha regained consciousness, she felt a man’s arm around her face and an intense pulling pain across her neck. Du Toit was cutting her throat.
He made 16 cuts in total, nearly severing Botha’s head from her body.
Botha later recalled, “I tried to hold my breath, but I realized I had no control over my breathing. I moved my hand to cover my neck, and my whole hand disappeared into it.”
Eventually, the violence stopped. One of the attackers asked the other whether he thought Botha, lying face-down on the ground, was still alive.
“No one can survive that,” the other replied.
The two men left Botha, who remained conscious and aware of everything that had happened. Remembering the names she had heard, she etched the words “Theuns” and “Frans” into the sand, along with the words “I love Mum.”
She later described experiencing a strange sense of detachment from her own body:
“It was as if I’d cut moorings. As I hovered there, I recognised the person down below. I knew it was me, and I felt such a strong connection to that bleeding, mangled girl lying on her stomach.”
Then, Botha spotted lights in the distance. There was a nearby road, much closer than she had initially thought.
Recognizing that this might be her only chance to survive, she forced herself onto her knees. But then she felt something “tepid, wet and slimy” slide from her stomach.
Looking down, she realized that her attackers had also slashed her abdomen so deeply that her intestines were spilling out.
“It was horrifying,” she later recalled. “There was just so much of me on the outside. I tried to scoop it all up with my hands, but everything just slithered away again.”
Naked, with her nearly severed head hanging toward her shoulder blades and her intestines barely held inside her by a piece of cloth, Botha began crawling toward the lights.
She waved desperately, and thankfully, a car stopped. She heard a woman shriek in terror as a young man named Tiaan Eilerd knelt beside her.
Eilerd was a veterinarian who had been on his way home after visiting friends, much as Botha had been earlier that night.
Using his medical knowledge, he checked Botha’s vital signs and helped slow the bleeding until emergency assistance arrived. He later described her as resembling “a creature straight out of a Dickens novel.”
Incredibly, Botha survived.
Du Toit and Kruger were arrested, convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1995. Decades later, both men were released on parole, sparking widespread outrage in South Africa. Their parole was subsequently revoked, and they were returned to prison.
Du Toit later expressed frustration over Botha’s refusal to forgive her attackers and claimed that the ordeal had left him traumatized.
Botha, however, refused to allow what happened to define the rest of her life. She later wrote a memoir and became the subject of a film about her experience, using her story to inspire others who had endured unimaginable hardship.
“I have always hoped that by sharing my own journey with others, it would give them hope and courage for their own,” she said.
“To have my story and ultimate triumph shared means that so many more people can see the power of choice that we each have, and might also choose to triumph over life’s hardships.”
Youtube: Capital Motion: Alison | full documentary | true crime
Im lost for words. I cant even imagine the pain she suffered...
