Rape survivor Alison Botha is in neuro high care after undergoing a successful brain operation on Thursday afternoon to insert a permanent stent in her head.
TimesLIVE Premium was asked, for security reasons, not to name the hospital where the operation took place.
Botha, who barely survived a brutal rape and attack by Theuns Kruger and Frans du Toit in 1994 in the Eastern Cape, was struck down by a brain aneurysm in her home a month ago.
“It was on September 25, three days after her birthday. Her youngest son ... found her on the floor,” Botha's lawyer, Tania Koen, told TimesLIVE Premium on Thursday.
“She was taken to a state hospital and she was later transferred to another state hospital where she is now.”
At noon on Thursday Botha went under the knife.
“A stent was inserted to drain excess fluid. The stent will be for life. She is now in neuro high care. This was a serious operation that could have complications,” Koen said late Thursday afternoon.
While the family had asked for privacy, Koen said she could reveal that Botha was not alone.
“Her mother, [both] children and brother Neale — who came over from Australia — and a few close friends were able to visit her, and a lot of people all over the world are praying for her.”
Thirty years ago, Dr Tiaan Eilerd held the hand of rape survivor Botha, brutalised and left for dead by Kruger and Du Toit by the side of a dark Gqeberha road.
When TimesLIVE Premium phoned him on Thursday, a month after Botha suffered the brain aneurysm, Eilerd was still waiting to hear if the brain operation had been a success.
“A brain operation is always serious, but I have full confidence that this will be a success. This is a procedure that is carried out very often,” Eilerd told TimesLIVE Premium.
The problem is her cerebrospinal fluid.
“That is basically the fluid in which the brain lies. Alison must have a stent inserted surgically to assist in draining some of this fluid.”
The fluid build-up causes pressure on the brain.
“This pressure leads to motor skills and speech issues. Her doctors will re-evaluate her after a while, but I can tell you now it will be a tough road ahead,” Eilerd said.
“Alison will probably need occupational and speech therapy, a wheelchair and adjustments to her house. We are talking astronomical costs.”
Eilerd and Botha changed each other’s lives on that fateful night in 1994.
“I was studying veterinarian sciences at the time. Because of Alison I changed to medicine and became a doctor.”
On December 18 1994, at about 3am, Botha arrived home after dropping off friends she had enjoyed a dinner party with at her home. Du Toit accosted her inside her vehicle with a knife and ordered her to drive.
On the way to an isolated spot outside Gqeberha they picked up Kruger. Once outside the city, they brutalised her. She had been stabbed more than 30 times.
Her throat was slashed so deeply she had to hold her own head on as she crawled to the road for help. Botha had to stop her own organs from spilling from her stomach with her other hand. This is where Eilerd found the seriously injured woman. He held her hand, assisted where he could and stayed with Botha until help arrived.
Du Toit and Kruger were found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1995. In July last year they were released on parole.
When TimesLIVE contacted a spokesperson for Botha last July for comment on the upcoming release of the two men, they were only aware that one of them — Du Toit — was going to be released on parole.
Eilerd is angry. “Those men should never have been released. The moment they were released Alison's entire world imploded.”
Botha feared her attackers.
“She wasn't in the Gqeberha area any more, but that did not prevent her fear. She was broken down piece by piece,” emotionally and financially.
“Alison stopped going out and started living in fear. She makes a living out of doing motivational talks. Opportunities already grew a lot less in Covid-19, but if you don't leave your house, you can't do motivational talks. Her income dried up.”
Eilerd is worried. “When those two men were released there were certain limitations to where they were allowed to be. But what happens when those limitations are over and Du Toit and Kruger can go where they want?”
The minister of correctional services, Dr Pieter Groenewald, told TimesLIVE Premium on Thursday that his team is working on “reviewing the parole process”.
“My first target for reform is the parole boards. Currently we have 52 in the country consisting of six members each. The chair and vice-chair of every board and two other members are from the local community and with them are a representative each of the police and the department of corrections.
“I would like to see that the community members on these boards are grounded in knowledge of how our criminal justice system works. It cannot just be someone who is popular or whatever. That person must know justice,” Groenewald said.
When will he start?
“The current boards were appointed for three years by the previous minister in August last year. In two years I want a new plan in place by the time these appointments run out.”
Members of the public who want to support Botha can make donations to a trust account at Nedbank that has since been set up in her name with account number 1302230492.
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