Woman, 27, was raped then forced to carry her insides before she found help

Warning: This article contains discussion of murder which some readers may find distressing

At the age of 27, Alison Botha endured a nightmare no-one should ever have to face – and incredibly she came through her ordeal alive to tell her horrific story.

From Port Elizabeth in South Africa, Alison was head girl in her school, described as having “the utmost positivity and sound moral values.”

Alison Botha's night started normal

By 1994, she had become an insurance broker and on December 18 she was out with friends. After enjoying a normal evening, she took her car and drove it home. Parking outside her home, she later recalled, "I had just turned off the engine and flicked off the headlights - it was so routine that I didn't (do it) all in one swift movement."

She remembered reaching inside the car to fetch a bag of laundry, when she saw a blonde man trying to gain access. As he got into her car, the man – who she later found out was Frans DuToit, the son of a police officer – threatened to kill her but also claimed he did not want to hurt her. He said he just wanted to borrow her car for an hour. She felt “strangely immobilised.”

Alison Botha was just 27 when she was attacked

DuToit then began asking her which number she lived at on her street. Alison wanted to build a bond with the man, but she felt uncomfortable sharing where she lived with the man who had become her kidnapper. She simply said, “I'd rather not say anything about me."

She asked him to take the car and let her go but taking the wheel, he insisted he “wanted company” and began to drive away from the city centre. He drove past a group, looking for one man – Theuns Kruger.

Alison faced two kidnappers

Short and dressed all in black, Kruger was let inside the car by DuToit. DuToit gave Alison a fake name ”Clinton”. He said to Kruger as he sat down, “meet my friend Susan.”

The three travelled in silence to a Port Elizabeth suburb, with DuToit saying, “Theuns doesn’t speak good English.”

It was then that DuToit began to slow the car near a forest and eventually stopped the car. DuToit, who was still pretending to be called Clinton, then raped Alison.

She was then assaulted by Kruger until he stopped, saying, “no I can’t do this,” and referring to his accomplice as “Frans”, which Alison made a mental note to remember.

DuToit said, "If we take you into town now you'll go to the police." He added, "what do you think Oom Nick would want us to do with her?”, with Oom Nick being an Afrikaans name for the Devil.

Kruger chillingly replied, “I think he wants us to kill her.”

Alison fought to live (Alison Botha)

The attack began

DuToit and Kruger made Alison take off her clothes and jewellery, before DuToit strangled her while apologising. She lost consciousness and came to surrounded by rubbish. A man’s arm was making a slashing motion towards her face and she realised he was in the process of cutting her throat.

She remembered she could “Hear the flesh slit.”

It was later found her neck had been cut 16 times and half her thyroid was poking through her neck.

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."

She pretended to be dead in the hope this might somehow save her. She heard the sick pair discussing her whether she was dead. One said, “No-one can survive that.”

Alison was alone

Determined her attackers should face justice she drew their names in the sandy ground and left a message, “I love mom.”

"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 saw lights in the distance. Realising she was close to a road, she rose to her knees. Alison felt something “slimy.”

She looked down to see her intestines were exposed: "it was horrifying 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."

She was later found to have been stabbed 30 times in the abdomen.

Alison used a shirt to hold her intestines in place. She described the horror, “"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."

She battled to survive

Alison crawled to the road, holding her intestines in place and positioning herself across the road so drivers would be forced to stop. One car approached her but swerved around her despite her desperate waving.

She was then aware of a woman screaming and a man kneeling over her.

Luckily for Alison, Tiaan Eilerd, who had been out with her that night, came upon the scene. He was a trained veterinarian and was able to place her thyroid back into her throat. She later described him as her “lifeline.”

She was taken to the hospital ICU and underwent extensive surgery. After learning of the attack, police identified the pair as being on bail on rape charges.

Both pleaded guilty at trial to kidnapping, rape and attempted murder and were sentenced to life behind bars. However, both were released on parole in 2023, having served 28 years.

She said, "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.'"

A legacy of courage

Alison wrote a book called I Have Life and the film Alison was released this year, detailing her heroism in the face of ultimate horror. Through her public speaking work, she was honoured with the Rotarian Paul Harris Award for Courage Beyond the Norm and other awards.

Alison, who despite her grievous injuries is a mother of two, 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."