Attacker asked terrifying question before raping woman and cutting out her intestines

Alison Botha was kidnapped, gang-raped, disembowelled and had her throat slit 16 times in Port Elizabeth, South Africa in 1994 – but she managed to survive thanks to her quick thinking and bravery

Alison Botha was just 27 when she endured a horrific ordeal of kidnapping, rape, disembowelment and having her throat slashed 16 times – yet, miraculously survived due to her courage and quick-wittedness.

In December 1994, she was returning home from a social visit with friends in her native Port Elizabeth, South Africa, when an unknown man abruptly entered her car as she arrived at her residence.

“You live in number one, don’t you?”, he chillingly enquired.

The intruder was identified as Frans du Toit, a notorious serial rapist who was on bail following the kidnap and brutal assault of two other women.

Du Toit, diagnosed as a psychopath and narcissist, had also admitted to devil worship.

Taking control of the car, du Toit threatened Botha’s life, introducing himself as “Clinton”. When Botha pleaded with him to take the car and leave her unharmed, he chillingly responded that he “wanted company”, reports the Mirror.

Taking the wheel of Botha’s car, du Toit drove around the local area, eventually encountering his accomplice from previous crimes, Theuns Krugeras, who was waiting by the roadside.

Slowing down, du Toit allowed Krugeras to join them, informing Botha, “Theuns doesn’t speak good English.”

Subsequently, du Toit steered the trio to a secluded nature reserve, halting the car on a sandy incline. He forcefully removed Botha from the vehicle, flinging her onto the ground before subjecting her to a savage sexual assault.

Krugeras started attacking her as well, but suddenly cried out, “No, I can’t do this,” and called out the name “Frans”. Botha, now realising “Clinton” had been a false identity, was determined to remember this crucial detail.

After the assault ended, du Toit told Botha, “If we take you into town now, you’ll go to the police.”

He then turned to Krugeras asking, “What do you think Oom Nick would want us to do with her?”.

“Oom Nick” is the Afrikaans term for Satan. Krugeras responded: “I think he wants us to kill her.”

The duo then mercilessly set upon Botha. Du Toit strangled her into unconsciousness, offering apologies while carrying out his brutal act.

Upon regaining consciousness, Botha sensed a man’s arm pressed against her face alongside an excruciating, tearing sensation across her throat. Du Toit was cutting her neck.

He would inflict 16 wounds altogether, nearly severing Botha’s head completely from her body.

Botha horrifically remembered: “I tried to hold my breath, but I realised I had no control over my breathing. I moved my hand to cover my neck [and] my whole hand disappeared into it.”

The brutality eventually ceased. One attacker questioned the other whether he believed Botha, lying face-down on the earth, remained alive.

“No one can survive that,” came the reply.

The pair abandoned Botha, who remained conscious throughout her ordeal. Recalling the names she’d overheard, she etched “Theuns” and “Frans” into the sand, along with the message “I love mum”.

She remembers witnessing herself from an out-of-body viewpoint: “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.”

Subsequently, Botha spotted lights in the distance – a nearby road, which was nearer than she had initially thought.

Recognising this as her opportunity for survival, she forced herself onto her knees but sensed something “tepid, wet and slimy” slip from her abdomen.

She glanced down and discovered her attackers had also sliced her stomach so severely that her intestines were spilling from her body.

“It was horrifying,” she said, “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.”

Unclothed, with her half-severed head drooping almost to her shoulder blades and keeping her intestines barely contained with a piece of fabric, Botha crawled towards the light.

She gestured, and a vehicle fortunately halted. She heard a woman shriek in terror as a young man, Tiaan Eilerd, knelt beside her.

Eilerd was a vet and had been on his way home from visiting friends, just as Botha had been just hours earlier.

Utilising his medical expertise, he assessed Botha’s vital signs and helped stem the bleeding. He described Botha as resembling “a creature straight out of a Dickens novel”.

Incredibly, Botha lived to tell the tale. Du Toit and Krugeras were apprehended and handed life sentences in 1995, but were granted parole in 2023.

This move sparked such a public uproar in South Africa that both men were swiftly re-arrested and their parole was rescinded, marking a first in the nation’s history.

Du Toit voiced his grievances about Botha’s refusal to forgive her assailants, stating that the incident had left him deeply traumatised.

Botha, who penned a memoir and inspired a film based on her ordeal, aspired for her narrative to motivate others.

“I have always hoped that by sharing my own journey with others, it would give them hope and courage for their own,” she expressed.

“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.”