Woman who was disemboweled, raped and nearly decapitated during horrific South African attack writes book about experience for other survivors
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.
Alison Botha was just 27 when she was subjected to a sickening attack in South Africa 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
The two attackers were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in 1995. Pictured: Theuns Kruger
Pictured: Alison’s book: I Have Life
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.’
Alison has 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’
Pictured: Alison signing her book: I Have Life
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, 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.’
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 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’.
