A Durban nurse who was gang-raped for six hours, while her fiance watched helplessly, says she lives her life in fear of it happening again.
And while she got "some closure" this week, when one of her rapists was sentenced to three life terms plus 27 years' imprisonment, the 40-year-old woman says her life will never be the same.
After the sentencing of Tandaso Peterson Nombele, 29, in the Durban Regional Court this week, his victim said she had been in hospital six times for depression and post traumatic stress since the attack at Ansteys Beach on the Bluff in February 2007.
Continues Below ↓
"I am completely paranoid. I am terrified and I don't like going out. Each time I manage to pick myself up, I relapse. Sometimes I just don't know how to live."
'I am completely paranoid' The woman and her fiance were sitting on a blanket, having a picnic on the beach one evening when, at about 7pm, she noticed shadows crouching near her.
"I started screaming and running. But one got me and another got my fiance. I was trying to get away but he stabbed me and punched me."
She said her attackers told her they would kill her fiance if she did not stop screaming and fighting. She obeyed and they were then dragged into the bush. That was when the rapes began.
During the six-hour ordeal, the couple were taken to various other spots on the beach.
"I thought they were going to kill us. We were just waiting to die," she said.
Finally, at about 1am the next morning, their attackers tied up their feet and tied their hands together. They were warned not to escape because there were others on the beach who would do the same thing to them.
"We waited 10 minutes. My fiance managed to bite the ropes off my feet but we could not undo our hands. We managed to get back to the car and saw shadows. Thinking it was fishermen we ran forward, but it was them and they came after us again, hitting us and punching us," she said.
Continues...
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
