On December 18, 1994, 27-year-old Alison Botha had a carefree day that ended in an absolute nightmare that she miraculously survived. Alison was born on September 22, 1967 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. When she was 10-years-old, her parents divorced & she spent the majority of her childhood living with her mother & brother. She served as head girl at The Collegiate High School for girls in Port Elizabeth & spent a few years traveling when she finished school. On her return, she began working as an insurance broker.
On December 18, 1994, Alison spent the day at the beach with her friends & as the day wore on, Alison invited everyone over to her flat to hang out to have pizza & play games.
As the evening ended, her friends began to head out & since it wasn’t safe to walk through the streets after dark, Alison gave one friend a ride home. She remembered that she’d previously done her laundry at this friend’s place so when she dropped her off, she also grabbed her clothes. She returned to her apartment just after 3 am & was surprised to see that her usual parking spot had been taken in the short time she’d been gone & had to settle on a spot that was farther away than she would have liked to have parked.
As she gathered her laundry in her unlocked car & began to get out, someone opened the driver’s side door. Before she even had a moment to react, a man stood in front of her, holding a knife blade to her throat. He instructed her to move to the passenger seat & threatened that he would kill her if she tried to scream. Alison did what she was told, hoping he would let her go if she cooperated. As they began to drive into the darkness, he told her that his name was Clinton & he only wanted to borrow her car for about an hour. He said if she listened to what he was telling her, he would eventually let her go & at that moment, Alison believed him. He made small talk as he drove & asked her what her name was & if she had a boyfriend. Alison lied, telling him that her name was Susan & she had a boyfriend waiting for her at home. She explained that they should head back since he was likely worried that she hadn’t come home. She offered him to just take her car, promising she wouldn’t tell the police.
He told her that he just wanted her company & he was only going to pick up his friend & refused to take Alison back home. When they stopped the car, his friend got in & Alison looked back into dead, cold eyes that she described as pure evil. This was the moment she realized that she would not be going home.
As they drove out of the city & suburbia turned to brush, Alison felt all hope drain from her body. Clinton stopped the car on a remote street that was dark & lacking any streetlights. Once there, the men told Alison they were going to rape her & Clinton asked her if she planned on fighting back. She continued to hold onto the idea of being released if she continued to cooperate so she told them she wouldn’t fight back. Alison was then brutally sexually assaulted by both men. When Clinton’s accomplice took over, he strangled her as he raped her. Alison began to drift in & out of consciousness during the attack & remembers repeating a phrase over & over: “It’s okay. Let them rape me because I can survive this. I got this, I can get through this. I can go home. I can go to the police. I can tell my family. My parents are going to support me. He is doing this to your body, not you because he can never really touch you.”
Alison was then pulled from the car & thrown onto piles of debris & broken glass that lined the street.
Both men had previously been arrested on rape charges & decided in advance that the best plan would be to get kill their next victim. After they finished raping Alison, they attempted to strangle her to death & then took turns stabbing her in the abdomen. By the time they finished, she had been stabbed thirty-seven times. As the two assailants stood over Alison’s body, they noticed her leg twitch & realized she was still alive.
At this point, the man they’d picked up moved back toward Alison & sliced her throat until Clinton pushed him away & took over; they cut her sixteen times in order to be sure that she was dead & unable to report them to police. Despite the brutality that Alison experienced, at this point, she was still aware of the hand that moved back & forth over her throat & was conscious the entire time. She heard a wet sound as they continued to slice & realized it was the sound of her flesh being sliced open. She was injured so badly by these wounds that she had nearly been decapitated. She tried to grasp what was happening to her but it felt unreal. She felt no pain at the time but knew that it was not a dream, it was something that was actually happening to her.
When the two attackers assumed that Alison was dead, they continued to talk over her body & one asked, “Do you think she’s dead?” The other answered, “No one can survive that.” As the pair climbed into Alison’s car to head back into the city, they called each other by their real names. After they drove off, Alison laid amongst dirt & broken glass, near death, she decided to write a message in the dirt & wrote, “I love mom.” She also wrote the two first names of the men who had done this to her so authorities could find the men who were responsible for her death. She wrote “Frans” & “Theuns.” As she laid there, she heard a wheezing sound & realized it was coming from her slashed throat.
Despite the horrific injuries Alison had sustained, she managed to drag herself to her knees, refusing to just lay in the dirt & await death. As she did, her head continued to fall backwards & this was when she realized in horror that her neck had nearly been cut through & it was basically impossible to hold her head upright. She began to try & crawl forward towards help & collapsed; at that moment, she wanted the horrific ordeal to be over & considered succumbing to death. Something within herself told her that she was worth getting up & refused to die at the hands of two monsters.
As she stood, she began to see the severity of her injuries when she felt something wet around her ankles. She held her head in place so that she could look down toward the sensation & saw that her intestines were bunched up at her feet. Despite the horror of this realization, Alison remained determined to find help or die trying. She was completely naked & covered in blood as she tried to figure out how to continue walking. She noticed her discarded clothing nearby & used her shirt as a sling to carry her intestines as she walked. She used one hand to hold her shirt in place & the other to hold her head in place.
The walk to the nearest road was extremely difficult but she managed to make it to the highway & would later say that she felt as if she had been carried by a force she couldn’t see or explain. Because of the very early hours of the morning, traffic was basically non-existent but Alison held out hope that someone would drive by & save her.
She was unable to remain standing as she waited & collapsed in the middle of the road in hopes that a passerby would see her. She laid on the pavement, her life slipping away, when she noticed headlights approaching. As the car got closer, it began to slow down as it passed her body, but the car sped off without offering assistance. Only moments later, another car was in the distance & this one stopped as they saw Alison’s body.
That night, Tiaan Eilerd, a twenty-year-old veterinarian student from Johannesburg who was vacationing in the area, had been taking the scenic route with friends. As Tiaan’s friend called for help, he knelt down by Alison & saw that her throat had been cut open from ear to ear. He & his friend took off their shirts to cover Alison & he held her hand & assured her that help was on the way. He could hear her breathing & see her eyes blink & she squeezed Tiaan’s hand so he knew she was conscious & aware of what was happening around her.
He continued to speak with Alison & instructed her to breathe with the goal of keeping her calm & awake until paramedics arrived. They formed a way to communicate by Tiaan asking Alison yes/no questions & she would squeeze his hand accordingly. He continued to reassure her that he wasn’t going to allow her to die in the road. When Alison grew tired & tried to close her eyes, Tiaan wouldn’t allow her; he wanted to make sure she stayed awake & conscious.
The ambulance took forty-five minutes to make the fifteen minute drive & when they finally arrived, the paramedics were stunned by the injuries that Alison had suffered & doubted that she would survive. As Alison was transferred to the ambulance, she refused to let go of Tiaan’s hand so he rode to the hospital with her.
Amazingly, not one of the fifty-plus stab wounds had hit an artery or a vital organ. Despite her intestines spilling out, Alison did not have any infections from her injuries. A throat specialist worked on Alison in the OR & she was transferred to ICU after the surgery. As a doctor, the surgeon was very well versed in the site of injury & blood but he later reflected that he was stunned by the extent of cruelty that Alison had been subjected to. He was struck by her strength & bravery & felt it was a miracle that she’d survived & seemed to defy science. Because of the nature of her injuries, a breathing tube had been inserted into Alison’s trachea to help her breathe. When Alison’s mom arrived at the hospital, she had only been out of surgery for about fifteen minutes; she was horrified to see the tubes & medical devices coming from her daughter’s body. She saw the dirt & crusted blood on Alison’s face & head. She was shocked that her daughter was as alert as she was & Alison expressed to her mom that she just wanted the men responsible for her injuries to be caught.
Detectives brought her a photo book full of potential suspects only hours after she had been attacked. She was able to pick out Frans du Toit & Theuns Kruger as her assailants. Determined to get these two men off the streets, Alison told detectives as much as she could about her horrific attack. Since she wasn’t able to speak, she was given a pad of paper to communicate.
When the evidence was presented to prosecutors, they asked Alison’s doctors if the breathing tube could be removed so that she could verbalize her assailant’s names. They explained that in their experience, spoken words are more impactful than written words at judicial hearings. Both Alison & her doctors agreed with this request. She was so relieved to have the uncomfortable tube gone & be able to speak her truth. She was able to verbalize the names of the men who tried to take her life & police quickly apprehended them.
Frans du Toit, who posed as Clinton, was a twenty-six-year-old father & husband with a criminal history that included violent attacks toward women. Despite the fact that he had been accused of rape on multiple previous occassions, he had gotten off each time with little more than a slap on the wrist. Some speculate this may be due to the fact that his father was a police officer. He was raised in a Christian household. When he was in eighth grade, (standard six), he set fire to a dormitory & claimed he did it because he was listening to heavy metal & was influenced by the hidden messages. At age thirteen he became involved in Satanism & when he was intoxicated, he felt his evil side became more prominent. While having sex, he said it was in his thoughts to kill. He was said to be a lazy student who failed grade nine (standard seven) twice.
The other man was nineteen-year-old Theuns Kruger who was even more of a threat than his partner. He grew up in an allegedly abusive household & his father was said to be a career criminal who had been in & out of prison the majority of Theuns’ childhood. Most women were repulsed by him & consistently rejected his advances which caused him to grow to despise women as a gender but remained fixated on them sexually. He admitted to raping a pregnant woman earlier that month. Frans & Kruger met at a shebeen (unlicensed establishment that sold alcohol) in June 1994, six months before they attacked Alison.
As the men drove off in Alison’s car, they headed home to drink beer & used the same knife they use to attack & apprehend Alison to eat toast with butter. When Kruger handed the knife over to police, they saw that it had the name “Frik” engraved on it.
When Frans was brought in & questioned by police in regards to what happened to Alison, he assumed he was being questioned about her murder. He was stunned when he learned that she had survived. At this point, realizing he had been caught, he handed over a blood encrusted ring that had belonged to Alison.
They recounted the events of what led up to their attack with absolutely no remorse & explained that they’d even planned to look for another girl the next day & had planned to throw her body off of a 410 foot bridge when they were done with her. On the day of Alison’s attack, Frans had a BBQ at his house & the two were drinking beer. Meanwhile, Frans & his wife were on rocky ground due to financial issues. They decided to leave the BBQ, meat actively cooking on the grill, in hopes of finding “a beautiful girl to rape & kill with a nice car.” They drank 2.5 liters of sherry & set out on their hunt. Unable to find a victim, Kruger lost interest & went to a club while Frans carried on & later came to find him in Alison’s car.
As Alison continued to recover, she requested that she pick out her assailants from a line-up. Her case was the first in South Africa’s legal system that used a two-way mirror to protect a victim from coming face-to-face with their assailant. Despite the fact that both men altered their appearances, Alison was able to quickly identify Frans & Kruger.
Alison was discharged from the hospital on the last day of 1994 & her mother took care of her. She had to travel back to the hospital daily to have her wounds redressed. It was during this time that in addition to the physical injuries, Alison also had to face her emotional injuries. One evening, she stood in the bathroom staring at the wound across her throat & the terrible wounds & surgical incisions that splayed across her abdomen. As the tears poured down her face, she wondered who would ever love her this way. She battled depression for quite some time, but was able to pull herself from despair when she realized the importance of telling her story. Rather than allowing her attackers to take more of her life, she made the decision to use what she learned from her experience in order to help others. In turn, this allowed her to continue to heal.
Tiaan had to return home to Johannesburg but before he left, he gave Alison a cactus & a card that read, “You’re the bravest person I have ever met.”
In February, she moved into a new flat with safety as a top priority. She also replaced her car, unable to face the reminder of what happened in her previous car. By March, she was back to work but her mind was preoccupied with the investigation & upcoming trial.
The media dubbed the pair the “Ripper Rapists” who had been charged with kidnapping, rape & attempted murder. Shortly after being taken into custody, Frans announced that he was possessed by a demon & in need of an exorcism. Neither the public nor the court system had any sympathy for him but an exorcism was held. On March 23, 1995, Frans & Kruger pleaded guilty to eight charges that included kidnapping, rape & attempted. murder.
The trial began on June 12, 1995 & by the end of day one, one of the defense lawyers withdrew his service for “ethical reasons.” Each day, as the pair were led to & from court, Detective Melvin Humpel who led the investigation, refused to shackle the men. He hoped they would try to make a run for it so they could get the appropriate punishment that they deserved.
During the trial, two prior victims of the pair took the stand to recount their horrific ordeals & each testified that they had been warned not to go to the police by the men. Both women promised to stay quiet but had each gone to authorities upon their release. Frans & Kruger were quickly arrested but had also been quickly released. A third woman, who had barely escaped the men, testified that she had been driving around, looking for a parking spot at 12:30 pm on December 16, 1994, two days before Alison was abducted, when she noticed two scary men watching her. As she pulled into an empty parking spot, she saw the men quickly approaching her car. Her survival instincts kicked in & she quickly locked the doors. When they realized that they couldn’t enter her car, they quickly fled. When she saw their faces on TV after Alison’s attack, he recognized their faces. Alison also testified during the trial. Those around her were in awe of her calm bravery throughout the whole ordeal; she indicated that she refused to allow these men to take her character.
On August 7, 1995 both men were found guilty on all charges & sentenced to life in prison. The judge was so stricken by their lack of humanity that he took the unprecedented step of including the caveat that they never be released.
Alison ended up getting married & had two sons despite her attackers making a point to destroy her reproductive organs. In 2016, Alison published a book, I Have a Life: Alison’s Journey as told to Marianne Thamm. That same year, a documentary of her attack & the aftermath was released which was simply named Alison which audiences & critics viewed as a triumph of human spirit.
When Frans learned of the documentary, he requested to be interviewed but only if Alison wrote him a letter of forgiveness ahead of time. He also asked for a share of the proceeds from the book & documentary as well as any earnings Alison received from her speaking engagements. It was his warped thought process that she wouldn’t have had any of these earnings if not for him.
After saving Alison that horrific night, Tiaan Eilerd had been so deeply affected by the incident & aftermath that he made the decision to change his career path. Instead of continuing to pursue veterinarian school, he enrolled in medical school & became a doctor. Years later he even helped deliver Alison’s second son.
Two years after Frans du Toit’s horrific crimes came to light, his father committed suicide. His law enforcement career had been destroyed after & the shame of what his own flesh & blood was capable of committing was too much to handle.
Because of a change in laws, all prisoners who were sentenced to life in prison before October 2004 were eligible for parole. Despite the gravity of their crimes, on Tuesday, July 4, 2023, after serving the minimum required time of twenty-eight years in prison, both Frans du Toit & Theuns Kruger were released from prison. This decision disregarded Alison’s pleas for them to remain behind bars & her warranted fear of potential revenge. After a ninety-day period of being allowed out during the day, they will then be freed on a permanent basis. Due to their release agreement, they will be closely monitored for the rest of their lives.
MISA, the company Alison has worked with for her motivational speaking engagements, indicated that they are disgusted & furious with the decision to grant their parole on a case they consider one of the most horrific crimes in South African history. MISA’s CEO, Martle Keyter, spoke out about the decision, “We live in a country where gender-based violence is referred to as a pandemic. Police Minister Bheki Cele admitted that we had lost the war when nearly 1,000 women were murdered & more than 1,500 were assaulted from January to March of this year.”
Alison’s lawyer, Tania Koen, was also livid, “This is not just a shock or a double shock, but shock on shock on shock.” Alison had been consulted during the parole process & made written submissions in 2017 & 2020, but this time, she received the news of their release via email from the department of correctional services on June 23, explaining the situation & the plan. She was in shock, scared & overwhelmed by the decision, not only just for her own safety but that of others. When her attackers were sentenced to life in prison, this idea allowed her to move on & have a sense of safety. She feels their payment for what they did was to stay in prison for the rest of their lives while her payment was to live with what happened for the rest of her life.
Alison has traveled to various countries to tell her story & while she spoke at Nelson Mandela University, she emphasized that one’s life should not be defined by the traumas they endure but by their response to them. Her story has allowed other women the courage to come forward & share their stories & release the shame they may have previously felt. A petition was started on July 7 for a review on the release of the convicted rapists because this undermines the safety & well-being of survivors & sends a disturbing message to perpetrators. The petition is demanding a thorough review of parole policies & procedures to ensure that justice is served & that violent offenders are held accountable for their actions.
It is Alison’s belief that we are never given more than we can bear & always maintained faith that this would not set her back or change her life.
References:
- Criminal: The amazing survival of Alison Botha (Case of Frans du Toit & Theuns Kruger)
- Medium: Raped, disemboweled & nearly decapitated: The remarkable survival story of Alison Botha
- Times Live: Alison Botha shocked at the news her attackers will be released on parole
- Swisherpost: Alison Botha attackers: Frans du Toit & Theuns Kruger paroled after serving 28 years
- Abp Live: Head nearly severed, intestines spilling out, but she walked: How Alison Botha survived ‘Ripper Rapists’
- Change.org: Stop parole for Frans du Toit & Theuns Kruger
- Crime Library: The Ripper Rapists
- EWN: The release of Alison Botha’s attackers on parole ‘scares her’, says lawyer
