Bredasdorp, Western Cape -
“Here, help tog net.” (Lord, please just help me).
That was the desperate appeal of Bredasdorp teenager Anene Booysen as she lay, after being gang-raped, mutilated and left for dead by her attackers. This alerted the security guard who found her and he raised the alarm.
Still traumatised as he related his shocking experience to Weekend Argus on Saturday, the 57-year-old father of three, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he would never forget the horrific scene.
By late Saturday night, three men were in custody in connection with last weekend’s brutal attack on Anene, who survived long enough to tell her mother foster Corlia Olivier and the police the names of her alleged attackers. She died in hospital last Saturday.
Jonathan Davids, 23, has already appeared in court, and two others who cannot yet be named will appear tomorrow.
Bredasdorp station commander Lieutenant Colonel Maree Louw confirmed that 16 members of the public order police had been deployed to the town ahead of the court case to boost limited resources there.
On Saturday the security guard who found Anene, left to die amongst the homes in a development he was guarding, said he initially heard only faint moans and groans.
“I made my first patrol after midnight on Friday (last week) and just after four in the morning I made my way back to the same site again.
“I was on foot and I heard something. At first I was not sure what it was, but I could make out a figure in the darkness and I backed up again.”
It was a faint call, he said, describing it as sounding like it came from “a person who was in agonising pain”.
As he went closer, he could hear more muffled sounds coming from between the houses.
And that’s when he heard her say: “Here, help tog net… Eina (sore).”
That was when he realised it was a woman lying there in the sand.
“She did not cry for help… I’m not sure that she was able to, but she tried to lift herself up several times and it was clear that she was in severe pain.”
The guard added that he tried to keep her calm and stop her moving, assuring her that help was on its way.
The guard explained that he had not wanted to go too close, so had followed protocol and called his office, which in turn alerted the police.
While he waited for back-up, he saw the silhouette of the woman, who he said was curled in a foetal position on the ground.
“I wanted to go forward, but I was afraid that I would spoil the crime scene, or accidentally step on evidence.”
The police arrived and they all moved closer.
The traumatised man said the scene was shocking, although he thought that there was less blood than would be expected considering the terrible injuries that had been done to Anene.
“In my lifetime I’ve never seen a person in such a state,” he said, adding that once she had been moved, he checked for blood elsewhere, but could not find any.
Residents reported blood in one of the houses next to where Anene was found, but the guard said it proved to be an oil spill.
“Those houses were completed and already locked,” he told Weekend Argus.
He added that he had not been able to return to work at the site this weekend.
“I am too shaken. The only way I’m trying to deal with the trauma is to try and block everything from my mind,” he said.
The guard added that he had not gone to either Friday’s march or Anene’s funeral as he did not want to draw attention to himself. - Sunday Argus