Pretoria -
The injuries inflected on Ina Bonette's breasts were so severe that the doctor who examined her was left traumatised, the High Court in Pretoria heard on Monday.
Dr Johan Janse van Rensburg testified that no one could ever forget seeing a woman whose nipples had been cut off.
Treating the injured Bonette had been traumatic for him as well, he said.
Bonette last week testified that her former husband Johan Kotze had tortured her with various objects at his house in Modimolle. He cut off her nipples with a side cutter and a small saw. He pushed a nail into the wounds in her breast and punctured both her silicone implants, which had to be replaced.
She testified that Kotze's alleged accomplices Andries Sithole, Pieta Mohlane and Frans Mphaka took turns to rape her. She heard her son Conrad begging Kotze for his life before he was shot dead.
Van Rensburg testified that Bonette was severely traumatised and in shock when he saw her hours after the crime. She was crying and told him her son had been shot dead, both of her nipples cut off, and that she had been sexually violated.
Examining Bonette had taken several hours because he had to call in police experts to help with the sexual assault crime kit. He insisted that a female police captain remain with Bonette while he examined her.
“I constantly thought about how she must feel and told her I was sorry but we had to get the exhibits and we had to go through the process,” he said.
She had puncture wounds under both breasts. She had an abrasion on her face, both upper eyelids appeared bruised, and she had injuries indicative of sexual assault.
Having her nipples cut off had to have been very painful because there were many nerve endings in that area.
Having “steel drops”, a medicine used to treat anaemia and iron deficiency, poured into the wounds must have been excruciating because it burnt severely, he said.
The doctor saw Bonette again the next day and referred her to a hospital because her breasts were swollen and getting red, indicating that infection might be setting in.
The trial continues. - Sapa