Latest news with #AlisonBotha
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Woman who was disemboweled, raped and nearly decapitated during horrific South African attack features in true crime podcast 30 years after attack
A South African woman who was abducted, disemboweled, raped, and nearly decapitated has written a book detailing her horrific ordeal. Alison Botha was just 27 when she was subjected to a sickening attack that left her having to hold onto her intestines as her partially-decapitated head 'flopped backwards and almost rested between [her] shoulder blades.' She was working as an insurance broker when, on December 18, 1994, after spending an evening with friends, she drove home to her apartment in Port Elizabeth. Alison had just parked her car and was reaching to the passenger seat to get her laundry when the nightmare began. She recalled how a blonde man pushed his way into her vehicle and left her frozen with fear. Frans Du Toit, a police officer's son, threatened to kill her, stating he didn't mean any harm but needed to use the car for an hour. In a desperate attempt to build a rapport with her kidnapper, Alison offered him the vehicle. But he insisted he 'wanted company', according to Morbid, a true crime podcast, citing her book I Have Life: Alison's Journey. After travelling a distance from the town, Du Toit passed by a crowd of people on the street twice, his eyes scanning for one individual - Theuns Kruger. The short man, who was dressed entirely in black, approached the driver's side and climbed into the car. Du Toit, who had introduced himself under the false name 'Clinton', adjusted the driver's seat forward as Kruger got in, introducing Alison (who was also using a pseudonym) as his friend Susan. The journey to a suburb outside Port Elizabeth was eerily quiet until the deafening silence was broken by Du Toit declaring 'Theuns doesn't speak good English.' Approaching a wooded area, Du Toit slowed down and parked on the sand. Kruger exited the car and 'Clinton' proceeded to rape Alison. Kruger began to assault her too but abruptly stopped, exclaiming, 'No I can't do this' inadvertently shouting 'Frans' at his accomplice. Alison committed this name to memory. Frans then warned Alison, 'If we take you into town now you'll go to the police.' Du Toit then asked a terrifying question, saying: 'What do you think Oom Nick would want us to do with her.' Oom Nick is an Afrikaans reference to Satan. Kruger responded: 'I think he wants us to kill her.' The evil duo forced Alison to remove her rings and clothes before Du Toit strangled her until she passed out. Disturbingly, Alison remembered Du Toit apologising to her in the moments before she lost consciousness. She then woke up surrounded by rubbish before she saw a man's arm slashing in front of her eyes and came to the terrifying realisation that he was cutting her throat. Alison has described the horrifying moment she 'could hear the flesh slit' in her book. It was later determined the men slit her throat 16 times, and Alison was nearly decapitated. The attack then stopped abruptly and Alison managed to turn over on to her front. She remembered: 'I tried to hold my breath, but I realised I had no control over my breathing - I moved my hand up to cover my neck - my whole hand disappeared into it, but it seemed to have worked - the sound was silenced.' Pretending to be dead, she heard one assailant ask if she was deceased with the other replying 'no one can survive that'. Holding on to hope that her attackers would face justice, Alison scrawled her attackers' names in the sand, adding 'I love mom.' She then spotted some lights and realised she was closer to the road than she initially thought. Alison managed to muster enough strength to push herself up to her knees before she touched her stomach and felt something 'tepid, wet and slimy'. Looking down, she was confronted with the disturbing sight of her intestines hanging out from a gaping wound. Alison added: 'My head had flopped backwards and almost rested between my shoulder blades. I expected to feel something but was completely taken aback when my hand disappeared inside me almost like I had swallowed myself.' With one hand holding her head stable and the other on her stomach wound she managed to reach the middle of the road, where she lay horizontally to force drivers to stop. Despite desperately waving for help, the first car swerved to avoid her. But eventually a woman and a young man came to her rescue. It was 2.45 am by the time she was found - meaning the time period between her abduction and her discovery had taken only an hour and a half. It was Tiaan Eilerd, a vet, who stumbled across Alison that evening. Tiaan was shocked that Alison was still alive, describing her as a 'creature straight out of a Dickens novel' with her neck split open 'almost ear to ear'. Alison's intestines had been stabbed multiple times, and her abdominal muscles were badly damaged. She later revealed that one of the men told her they were intentionally trying to mutilate her reproductive organs. However, miraculously, she went on to have two children. After hours of surgery, Alison was transferred to the ICU. As news of her attack spread, police discovered that the pair were already on bail for rape. Both men claimed to be Satanists and pleaded guilty to kidnapping, rape, and attempted murder. Du Toit had raped another woman but said the 'urge to kill her had passed' after he raped her. Both men were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in 1995. When there was a chance the law might change in 2012, Alison said: 'Can you imagine if just 100 lifers were reintroduced to society without rehabilitation.' Her campaigning efforts were instrumental in ensuring that such prisoners remained behind bars. But, on July 4, 2023, Du Toit and Kruger, who had served only 28 years of their life sentence, were granted parole without anyone notifying Alison. On her Facebook page, Alison expressed her shock: 'The day I hoped and prayed would never come. When I was asked 'How will you feel if they ever get parole?' – my immediate answer was always – 'I'm hoping I'll never find out'.' Alison has bravely recounted her harrowing ordeal and remarkable survival through her book I Have Life and the 2016 documentary film Alison. She has also tirelessly spoken to hundreds of people, inspiring others by sharing how attitude, belief, and choice helped her survive. Recognised for her incredible courage, Alison was given the prestigious Rotary Paul Harris Award for Courage Beyond the Norm. In the same year she was the first recipient of Femina magazine's Woman of Courage award as well as being chosen as Port Elizabeth's Citizen of the Year. Upon the release of the movie, Alison said: 'I have always hoped that by sharing my own journey with others, it would give them hope and courage for their own. 'To have my story and ultimate triumph shared on screen would mean that so many more people would see the power of choice that we each have; and might also choose to triumph over life's hardships'.
Daily Mail
12-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Woman who was disemboweled, raped, and nearly decapitated during horrific South African attack speaks out in true crime podcast
A South African woman who was abducted, disemboweled, raped, and nearly decapitated has written a book detailing her horrific ordeal. Alison Botha was just 27 when she was subjected to a sickening attack that left her having to hold onto her intestines as her partially-decapitated head 'flopped backwards and almost rested between [her] shoulder blades'. She was working as an insurance broker when, on December 18, 1994, she drove home to her apartment in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, after a night out with friends. Alison had just parked her car and was reaching to the passenger seat to get her laundry when the nightmare unfolded. She recalled how a blond man pushed his way into her vehicle and left her frozen with fear. Frans Du Toit, a police officer's son, threatened to kill her, stating he didn't mean any harm but needed to use the car for an hour. In a desperate attempt to build a rapport with her kidnapper, Alison offered him the vehicle. But he insisted he 'wanted company', according to Morbid, a true crime podcast, citing her book I Have Life: Alison's Journey. After travelling a distance from the town, Du Toit passed by a crowd of people on the street twice, his eyes scanning for one individual - Theuns Kruger. The short man, who was dressed entirely in black, approached the driver's side and climbed into the car. Du Toit, who had introduced himself under the false name 'Clinton', adjusted the driver's seat forward as Kruger got in, introducing Alison (who was also using a pseudonym) as his friend Susan. The journey to a suburb outside Port Elizabeth was eerily quiet until the deafening silence was broken by Du Toit declaring 'Theuns doesn't speak good English'. Approaching a wooded area, Du Toit slowed down and parked on the sand. Kruger exited the car and 'Clinton' proceeded to rape Alison. Kruger began to assault her too but abruptly stopped, exclaiming, 'No I can't do this' inadvertently shouting 'Frans' at his accomplice. Alison committed this name to memory. Frans then warned Alison, 'If we take you into town now you'll go to the police.' Du Toit then asked a terrifying question, saying: 'What do you think Oom Nick would want us to do with her.' Oom Nick is an Afrikaans reference to Satan. Kruger responded: 'I think he wants us to kill her.' The duo forced Alison to remove her rings and clothes before Du Toit strangled her until she passed out. Disturbingly, Alison remembered Du Toit apologizing to her in the moments before she lost consciousness. She then woke up surrounded by rubbish before she saw a man's arm slashing in front of her eyes and came to the terrifying realization that he was cutting her throat. Alison has described the horrifying moment she 'could hear the flesh slit' in her book. It was later determined the men slit her throat 16 times, and Alison was nearly decapitated. The attack then stopped abruptly and Alison managed to turn over on to her front. She remembered: 'I tried to hold my breath, but I realized I had no control over my breathing - I moved my hand up to cover my neck - my whole hand disappeared into it, but it seemed to have worked - the sound was silenced.' Pretending to be dead, she heard one assailant ask if she was deceased with the other replying 'no one can survive that'. Holding on to hope that her attackers would face justice, Alison scrawled her attackers' names in the sand, adding 'I love mom'. She then spotted some lights and realized she was closer to the road than she initially thought. Alison managed to muster enough strength to push herself up to her knees before she touched her stomach and felt something 'tepid, wet and slimy'. Looking down, she was confronted with the disturbing sight of her intestines hanging out from a gaping wound. Alison added: 'My head had flopped backwards and almost rested between my shoulder blades. I expected to feel something but was completely taken aback when my hand disappeared inside me almost like I had swallowed myself.' With one hand holding her head stable and the other on her stomach wound she managed to reach the middle of the road, where she lay horizontally to force drivers to stop. Despite desperately waving for help, the first car swerved to avoid her. But eventually a woman and a young man came to her rescue. It was 2.45am by the time she was found - meaning the time period between her abduction and her discovery had taken only an hour and a half. It was Tiaan Eilerd, a vet, who stumbled across Alison that evening. Tiaan was shocked that Alison was still alive, describing her as a 'creature straight out of a Dickens novel' with her neck split open 'almost ear to ear'. Alison's intestines had been stabbed multiple times, and her abdominal muscles were badly damaged. She later revealed that one of the men told her they were intentionally trying to mutilate her reproductive organs. Miraculously, she went on to have two children. After hours of surgery, Alison was transferred to the ICU. As news of her attack spread, police discovered that the pair were already on bail for rape. Both men claimed to be Satanists and pleaded guilty to kidnapping, rape, and attempted murder. Du Toit had raped another woman but said the 'urge to kill her had passed' after he sexually assaulted her. Both men were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in 1995. When there was a chance the law might change in 2012, Alison said: 'Can you imagine if just 100 lifers were reintroduced to society without rehabilitation.' Her campaigning efforts were instrumental in ensuring that such prisoners remained behind bars. But, on July 4, 2023, Du Toit and Kruger, who had served only 28 years of their life sentence, were granted parole without anyone notifying Alison. On her Facebook page, Alison expressed her shock: 'The day I hoped and prayed would never come. When I was asked "How will you feel if they ever get parole?" - my immediate answer was always - "I'm hoping I'll never find out".' Alison has bravely recounted her harrowing ordeal and remarkable survival through her book I Have Life and the 2016 documentary film Alison. She has also tirelessly spoken to hundreds of people, inspiring others by sharing how attitude, belief, and choice helped her survive. Recognized for her incredible courage, Alison was given the prestigious Rotary Paul Harris Award for Courage Beyond the Norm. In the same year she was the first recipient of Femina magazine's Woman Of Courage award as well as being chosen as Port Elizabeth's Citizen Of The Year. Upon the release of the movie, Alison said: 'I have always hoped that by sharing my own journey with others, it would give them hope and courage for their own. 'To have my story and ultimate triumph shared on screen would mean that so many more people would see the power of choice that we each have; and might also choose to triumph over life's hardships'.
Daily Mail
09-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Woman who was disemboweled, raped and nearly decapitated during horrific South African attack writes book about experience
A South African woman who was abducted, disemboweled, raped, and nearly decapitated has written a book detailing her horrific ordeal. Alison Botha was just 27 when she was subjected to a sickening attack that left her having to hold onto her intestines as her partially-decapitated head 'flopped backwards and almost rested between [her] shoulder blades.' She was working as an insurance broker when, on December 18, 1994, after spending an evening with friends, she drove home to her apartment in Port Elizabeth. Alison had just parked her car and was reaching to the passenger seat to get her laundry when the nightmare began. She recalled how a blonde man pushed his way into her vehicle and left her frozen with fear. Frans DuToit, a police officer's son, threatened to kill her, stating he didn't mean any harm but needed to use the car for an hour. In a desperate attempt to build a rapport with her kidnapper, Alison offered him the vehicle. But he insisted he 'wanted company', according to Morbid, a true crime podcast, citing her book I Have Life: Alison's Journey. Alison (pictured recently) has bravely recounted her harrowing ordeal and remarkable survival through her book 'I Have Life' and its movie adaptation 'Alison', which premiered in August this year After travelling a distance from the town, Du Toit passed by a crowd of people on the street twice, his eyes scanning for one individual - Theuns Krugeras. The short man, who was dressed entirely in black, approached the driver's side and climbed into the car. Du Toit, who had introduced himself under the false name 'Clinton', adjusted the driver's seat forward as Krugeras got in, introducing Alison (who was also using a pseudonym) as his friend Susan. The journey to a suburb outside Port Elizabeth was eerily quiet until the deafening silence was broken by Du Toit declaring 'Theuns doesn't speak good English.' Approaching a wooded area, Du Toit slowed down and parked on the sand. Krugeras exited the car and Clinton proceeded to rape Alison. Krugeras began to assault her too but abruptly stopped, exclaiming, 'No I can't do this' inadvertently shouting 'Frans' at his accomplice. Alison committed this name to memory. Frans then warned Alison, 'If we take you into town now you'll go to the police.' Du Toit then asked a terrifying question, saying: 'what do you think Oom Nick would want us to do with her.' Oom Nick is an Afrikaans reference to Satan. Krugeras responded, 'I think he wants us to kill her.' The evil duo forced Alison to remove her rings and clothes before Du Toit strangled her until she passed out. Disturbingly, Alison remembered Du Toit apologising to her in the moments before she lost consciousness. She then woke up surrounded by rubbish before she saw a man's arm slashing in front of her eyes and came to the terrifying realisation that he was cutting her throat. Alison has described the horrifying moment she 'could hear the flesh slit' in her book. It was later determined the men slit her throat 16 times, and Alison was nearly decapitated. The attack then stopped abruptly and Alison managed to turn over onto her front. She remembered: 'I tried to hold my breath, but I realised I had no control over my breathing - I moved my hand up to cover my neck - my whole hand disappeared into it, but it seemed to have worked - the sound was silenced.' Pretending to be dead, one of her attackers asked the other if they thought they thought she had died. 'No one can survive that,' one of the men responded. Holding on to hope that her assailants would face justice, Alison scrawled her attackers' names in the sand, adding 'I love mom.' Recalling the sensation of her horrific injuries, she said: '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.' She then spotted some lights and realised she was closer to the road than she initially thought. Alison managed to muster enough strength to push herself up to her knees before she touched her stomach and felt something 'tepid, wet and slimy'. Looking down, she was confronted with the disturbing sight of her intestines hanging out from a gaping wound. She described the scene as 'horrifying' and 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.' Alison added: 'My head had flopped backwards and almost rested between my shoulder blades. I expected to feel something but was completely taken aback when my hand disappeared inside me almost like I had swallowed myself.' After being stabbed in the abdomen over 50 times, Alison used a shirt to hold her intestines inside her body while debris and broken glass sliced into her hands and knees. With part of her thyroid protruding from her neck, she realised the trail of blood she left would devastate her loved ones if they knew the suffering she had endured in her final moments. With one hand holding her head stable and the other on her stomach wound she managed to reach the middle of the road, where she lay horizontally to force drivers to stop. Despite desperately waving for help, the first car swerved to avoid her. But eventually a woman and a young man came to her rescue. It was 2.45 am by the time she was found - meaning the time period between her abduction and her discovery had taken only an hour and a half. It was Tiaan Eilerd, a vet, who stumbled across Alison that evening. He checked her vitals and pushed her thyroid back into her throat - an act that Alison later referred to as a 'lifeline'. Tiaan was shocked that Alison was still alive, describing her as a 'creature straight out of a Dickens novel' with her neck split open 'almost ear to ear'. Alison's intestines had been stabbed multiple times, and her abdominal muscles were badly damaged. She later revealed that one of the men told her they were intentionally trying to mutilate her reproductive organs. However, miraculously, she went on to have two children. After hours of surgery, Alison was transferred into the ICU. As news of her attack spread, police discovered that the pair were already on bail for rape. Both men claimed to be Satanists and pleaded guilty to kidnapping, rape, and attempted murder. Du Toit had raped another woman but said the 'urge to kill her had passed' after he raped her. Both men were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in 1995. When there was a chance the law might change in 2012, Alison said, 'can you imagine if just 100 lifers were reintroduced to society without rehabilitation.' Her campaigning efforts were instrumental in ensuring that such prisoners remained behind bars. But, on July 4, 2023, Du Toit and Krugeras, who had served only 28 years of their life sentence, were granted parole without anyone notifying Alison. On her Facebook page, Alison expressed her shock: 'The day I hoped and prayed would never come. When I was asked 'How will you feel if they ever get parole?' – my immediate answer was always – 'I'm hoping I'll never find out.'' Alison has bravely recounted her harrowing ordeal and remarkable survival through her book 'I Have Life' and its movie adaptation 'Alison', which premiered in August this year. She has also tirelessly spoken to hundreds of people, inspiring others by sharing how attitude, belief, and choice helped her survive. Recognised for her incredible courage, Alison was awarded the prestigious Rotarian Paul Harris Award for 'Courage Beyond the Norm'. In the same year she was the first recipient of Femina magazine's 'Woman of Courage' award as well as being chosen as Port Elizabeth's Citizen of the Year. Upon the release of the movie, Alison said: ''I have always hoped that by sharing my own journey with others, it would give them hope and courage for their own. 'To have my story and ultimate triumph shared on screen would mean that so many more people would see the power of choice that we each have; and might also choose to triumph over life's hardships'.
The Herald
09-05-2025
- Politics
- The Herald
Stories that grabbed the headlines
It was a decade of huge breaking news that was transforming the future trajectory of SA, events and conflicts that were changing the face of the world, and even in Nelson Mandela Bay and the region further afield, a series of stories that would rock the city and beyond. All would be covered extensively by The Herald. The year 1990 would signal in the massive, seismic shift for a violence-torn, isolated SA in turmoil and witnessing rising civil unrest that had already reached boiling point. It was a precarious moment that would precipitate the release of Nelson Mandela, the unbanning of the ANC and other organisations and the task of slowly repairing a broken, bloodied and divided nation. It would culminate in the country's first democratic elections in 1994, to be followed by the opening and exposing of historical and sometimes unbearable wounds and atrocities by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and then the start of the arduous task of rebuilding, restoring, reforming and, most crucially, reconciling. But in Nelson Mandela Bay, a series of stories, crimes and tragedies would also leave their mark. From the horrific and vicious rape attack on Alison Botha to the darkly mysterious and still unsolved execution-style murder of two close friends in a suburban home, the frenzied fatal stabbing of a young teenage sports star by her older sister, and the corporate fun family weekend away on a river tubing adventure which would end in a nightmare and the loss of 13 lives. These local and national events are what former news editor of The Herald, Pat Sydie, remembers most about his time on the newsdesk. 'The job of news editor is a difficult one because you're stuck in the middle — between the news reporters and the senior editors and responsible to both,' Sydie says, in his trademark, good-natured style. Sydie recalled some of the local stories that made big news during this period in SA when the country was undergoing a huge transformation. * In 1990, while SA was focused on the release of Nelson Mandela and the beginning of lengthy post-apartheid negotiations, Stewart 'Boetie Boer' Wilken b egan a killing spree in then Port Elizabeth, with a modus operandi that criminologists would describe as being highly unusual as he targeted very different victims from sex workers to young boys across races. The Herald's coverage was featured in a TV documentary on Wilken's crimes broadcast by Showmax in 2023 entitled Boetie Boer: Inside the Mind of a Monster . * In May 1994, an execution-style double murder in Walmer rocked the city and remains unsolved to this day. Close friends Felix Coetzee and Scott Ayton w ere found brutally murdered by d omestic worker Elsie Mati who was confronted by a gruesome scene when she arrived for work at the Ayton family's Alcock Road home. Coetzee was bound, gagged, blindfolded and sitting upright on a chair in the lounge. He had been shot in the back of the head. Ayton was i n a bedroom, where he had been slain in a similar fashion. No arrests were ever made in the puzzling case which left police baffled.
