‘Injustice’: Outrage after Alison Botha attackers granted parole

Alison Botha – the Port Elizabeth woman who survived a gruesome rape and assault almost 30 years ago – is living her worst fears after her attackers, Frans du Toit and Theuns Kruger, were released on parole this week.

The Department of Correctional Services announced the release of the perpetrators who were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1995.

A year earlier,  Botha was left for dead after being brutally raped and stabbed more than 30 times, leaving her near-decapitated and disemboweled. The parole announcement follows Alison sharing her fears that her attackers would seek “revenge” pending their release.

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ALISON BOTHA ATTACKERS GRANTED PAROLE

In a statement, the Department of Justice and Correctional Services announced the release of Frans du Toit and Theuns Kruger, effective on Tuesday, 4 July.

According to the department, the offenders had served the minimum sentence behind bars to render them eligible for parole.

The decision was made as per the Correctional Services Act and following a deliberation by the National Council for Correctional Services (NCCS), chaired by a judge of the high court and comprising of professionals, including magistrates, attorneys, clinical psychologists, social workers, medical doctors, professors and members of the public.

Correctional Services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo also claimed that the offenders had undergone an intensive rehabilitation process.

The statement read: “This is not just about an inmate completing programmes or having served the minimum required time. Various structures study all the material before them and assessment reports. Placing a lifer back into the community has to satisfy all the structures in the parole consideration process in terms of rehabilitation and the risk involved.

“The minister is ultimately the decision maker.”

GRUESOME ATTACK – AND INITIAL SENTENCE WITH NO PAROLE

On 18 December 1995, Alison Botha was kidnapped outside her Port Elizabeth home by Theuns Kruger and Frans du Toit, where she was taken to the outskirts of the city and brutally raped and assaulted.

The then 27-year-old woman was left for dead after being stabbed more than 30 times. Her throat was slashed so deep she had to hold onto her head with one hand as she crawled to the nearby road for help. With her other hand, she held onto her slashed stomach, which had been disemboweled.

ALSO READ: Oscar Pistorius vs Jub Jub: Was athlete’s failed parole bid ‘unfair’?

Through sheer willpower, Alison survived the horrific ordeal and shared her story through her biography; I Have Life,  and award-winning documentary Alison.

In 1995, Pretoria High Court Judge Chris Jansen handed the men life sentences without the possibility of parole. He said: “I needed to make it clear they were a threat to society and should never be released”.”

However, this was overturned when the Department of Justice and Correctional Services announced in October 2004 that all prisoners become eligible for parole after serving 25 years in prison.

FEARS OF REVENGE, PUBLIC OUTRAGE

In 2015, Alison told Carte Blanche that she feared her attackers would seek revenge on her after their prison release.

Alison’s attackers’ parole has been met with outrage from South Africans on social media.

Here’s what a few had to say:

@ALETTAHA: “I cannot imagine what she must be going through. I also cannot imagine in what terrible danger our women and children will be with them out on the streets. This is horrific news!”

@steynclan: “An absolute travesty. You can’t fix evil. How are they now part of society again? NO @RonaldLamola NO. How is this allowed?”

@GenduToit: “As if this woman hasn’t suffered enough, now she will start looking over her shoulder every time she goes out in public.”

@DocHassim: “This is sick. It was one of the most heinous crimes in modern SA history. They deserved to rot in jail.”