A 10-year-old rape survivor burst into tears when she told the Western Cape High Court about the night her life changed.
Clutching her teddy bear, the child testified via a video link-up and did not have to face the suspect.
She spoke softly as she recounted the horrific rape and assault that left her paralysed in her right arm as well as both her legs.
Doctors have told the court that while she can understand perfectly well, she cannot speak properly and will always have problems when trying to talk.
The young girl cried as she recounted the horrific details.
Wearing a pink bow in her hair and a pink tracksuit, the little girl leaned back into the arms of a court assistant – Ivan Marco – assigned to help her tell her story.
The girl, who was nine years old at the time of the brutal attack, told the court on Monday that Stephen “Foxy” Isaacs had dragged her into bushes near her Darling home after promising to buy her sweets.
Isaacs has pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, rape, assault with the intention to cause grievous bodily harm and attempted murder for the attack on the evening of October 23, 2010.
With tears streaming down her cheeks, the girl told trial Judge Lee Bozalek that she had been looking for her mother when she met Isaacs.
She said he took her hand and told her he was going to buy her sweets. But instead of going to the shop, she said Isaacs took her to a place she didn’t know.
She said he began dragging her into nearby bushes and she fell and scratched her face as she tried to escape.
The girl began sobbing when she was asked to tell the court about what happened in the bush.
She calmed down after a few minutes and told the court that Isaacs then undressed her.
Turning away from the camera and staring at the wall, the young child said: “Hy (Isaacs) sê vir my ek moet sy penis lek.(He told me to lick his penis)”
She said when she refused, he began to smack her and then choked her.
Using her left hand she demonstrated how Isaacs put his hands on her throat and strangled her.
She said Isaacs later laid on top of her with his jeans and underwear pulled down to his knees.
“Toe druk hy sy penis in my koekie in (He then shoved his penis in my vagina),” she said.
She said she “fell asleep” and when she woke up it was Saturday afternoon.
Her clothes were lying on the ground next to her and she put them on and went looking for help.
She said some boys found her and called her mom.
And when her mother arrived she told the court she lied, claiming a car had knocked her down. But when she got to the hospital, she told her mom: “Stephen het my verkrag (Stephen raped me).”
She told the court she had told her mother not to cry because: “Ek gaan weer reg kom (I will be okay again).”
When Isaacs’ lawyer Paul Bernard asked her if she was mistaken about the identity of the man who raped her, she burst out crying and said: “Is hy. (It’s him)”
Her story drew gasps from the public gallery that was filled with her family members there to support her.
And while people listening to her story struggled not to cry, the brave young girl reminded everyone that her life is not over as she giggled at Marco.
Her laughter filled the courtroom when Marco told her: “Ek is dom en ek het nie so lekker gehoor (I’m stupid en did not hear properly)” and asked her to repeat something she had whispered in his ear.
* This article was published in the Daily Voice