Noxolo Nkosana, who was stabbed by two men in Crossroads because, she says, she is a lesbian, is recovering at home with her family’s help.
Nkosana was walking home on Friday evening with her partner and friends when she was attacked.
Luleki Sizwe, a Gugulethu-based non-profit charity fighting against “corrective rape” of lesbians, is helping Nkosana with her case.
The charity’s co-ordinator, Ndumie Funda, said last night that the attack was “out of the blue”.
“Two men, one from her own neighbourhood, advanced on Noxolo yelling: ‘You f****** lesbian, you f****** tomboy.’ The man Noxolo recognised stabbed her twice with a knife in the back. She fell and he stabbed her two more times,” Funda said.
As she fell, her girlfriend and friends went to her aid, some running into the nearest yard where they beat on the door, begging for help.
The second attacker, who she did not know, chased them with the knife, but fled when they were let into the house.
From there, the group arranged transport to take Nkosana to hospital.
Funda said last night: “She’s in pain and at home with her family. She was lucky she didn’t get raped because she ran away.”
She was stabbed three times on the left side of her back, and once in the right shoulder.
“
I know the one guy, but I don’t even talk to him. I don’t have a sense as to why they attacked me,” Nkosana told the Cape Argus.
On Friday, she decided not to open a case because she felt too weak.
But on Saturday, her 65-year-old mother saw her daughter’s blouse “ripped and soaked in blood” and insisted that Nkosana open a case.
On Saturday Funda took Nkosana to the Gugulethu police station, where they were told to first get a form from the clinic.
But the doctors were off duty. They were told the form could be issued only tonight.
Nkosana said:
“I want to lay charges against these guys. We should not be ashamed. We should not be afraid of the public.”
With the help of volunteers, Funda was able to get a police officer from the Gugulethu station to take Nkosana’s statement. A case was opened at the Nyanga station.
Funda said yesterday that the fact that Nkosana’s attackers had still not been arrested, an investigating officer had yet to be assigned, and “these men are still roaming her neighbourhood makes her stand even more courageous”.
The police confirmed last night that a case had been opened, and said the investigating officer would come from the Nyanga police station.
[email protected] - Cape Argus