Anene's burial place a town without hope

"Help," said Hester standing on a dirt road metres from the pub at which 17-year-old Anene Booysen was last seen before she was raped and mutilated.

Crates of alcohol were being off-loaded at the popular drinking spot in the Bredasdorp heat on Friday.

"You see that man there," she said, pointing at someone in the distance. "He can do what he wants with me. He hits me.

"Look at how he bit me," said the 50-year-old, holding up a swollen thumb. She lifted her shirt to reveal a burn wound, before sobbing into her polka-dot sunhat.

She was drunk, she said, because alcohol numbed the pain of the constant abuse.

Hester said she had tried to run away but "he hunts me down".

She claimed the man raped her and "touches" and "claws at" girls as much as he wants to.

Soon Hester will move into her own home in Simunye, a new government housing development where Booysen's family lives.

Like so many other women in South Africa, Hester cannot escape the cycle of abuse.

Booysen was found in an alleyway between two empty new homes on Saturday last week.

She had, according to her family, been drinking at David's Sports Bar and Pub into the early hours of the morning.

On Friday, Booysen's foster mother and her family clammed up, tired of the relentless questions from the media.

By late afternoon, her mother, Corlia Olivier, allowed only members of the ANC Women's League into her modest home.

Outside stood 15-year-old Patricia Karelse, one of Booysen's friends.

"Anene was never really interested in boys - she was a bit of a tomboy. I drank with her at that pub once. Many young girls drink there," said Karelse.

Jemenisia Olivier, a primary school friend, believes that it is impossible to count the number of shebeens and places to drink at in the town.

"Did you see all the young girls who have babies? It is a big problem here," said the 19-year-old Olivier.

All three of the young men who have been arrested for the rape and murder of Booysen are from the community.

The first suspect's best friend, Ifor Mentoor, refuses to believe he was capable of such a gruesome crime.

"When he is sober, he is really quiet but when he is drunk, he is just irritating. I will support him. I know him," said Mentoor.

"Sometimes he would zone out and not speak to us."

Mentoor said the 22-year-old had had a girlfriend for a while but then his life had consisted of "working and drinking".

Community worker Rosline Koeberg said the town of Bredasdorp - more than two hours drive from Cape Town - has no recreational facilities or real job opportunities for the youth.

"The only pastimes here are getting drunk, sex and drugs," said Koeberg who has been campaigning for a municipal swimming pool or a park to give the community a respectable place to go.

Police crime statistics for the Bredasdorp area reveal how sexual crimes have increased from 27 in 2009/2010 to 60 in 2011/2012. Murders have increased from eight to 11 in the same period.

The first suspect's uncle, Nico September, visited him in prison yesterday.

September believes his nephew is innocent but all they can do is wait for the "truth to be revealed".

He said Booysen and his nephew were like "brother and sister" - they lived only metres apart and were always visiting one another, along with their siblings.

On Monday last week, September visited Booysen's mother to "sympathise". They had hugged.

"As difficult as it is for her family, it is as difficult for us," he said.