Cape Town - This woman says she has lost her sex drive after her vagina was injured during a police raid on their house.
After bringing three children into the world, Rina Fens says she now has no desire to be with a man.
Rina and her father John Swanepoel were injured when the police stormed their Kraaifontein house, shot rubber bullets and threw gas grenades because the family was allegedly being “oproerig”.
Rina, 50, tells the Daily Voice: “The thing they [police] threw landed on our table, it went off twice with a sharp light and a piece of it hit my vagina.
“I later learned it was the fly-off lever of a shock grenade.
“I felt a strange feeling in my vagina and till today I have lost my sex drive.”
Now for the past 12 years Rina has been suffering while they wait for the police case to be concluded.
Rina’s brother Thys Swanepoel, 57, tells the Daily Voice that their father was also injured in the attack.
Thys says: “A rubber bullet hit my dad in the stomach and I think it caused gangrene.”
John, 91, also inhaled some of the teargas, which allegedly has now affected his taste and eating habits.
“My father was a very healthy man, but after teargas damaged his insides, he has no appetite,” Thys tells the Daily Voice.
“He feels like he wants to die, he has tried to take his own life.”
Rina adds that the incident on October 8, 2000, has destroyed the whole family’s lives and they now fear that they will all die before the case is settled.
“I am a changed person,” she tells the Daily Voice.
“I have brought three children into the world, but now I get no feeling for a man, not even a little warmth.”
But while the family waits, the courts have decided not to pursue the case.
Police spokesperson Captain FC van Wyk tells the Daily Voice that the family met with the Brackenfell Police Station Commander.
“It was explained to them that the SSP [Senior State Prosecutor] decided to Nolle Prosequi [not prosecute] the case and not the SAPS,” Van Wyk says.
“It was further proved to them that regular feedback was provided to them, by not only the investigating officer, but also by the Director of Public Prosecutions in writing and copies... were shown to them.
“The complainants confirmed receiving the feedback and were satisfied when they left the station.”
This is cold comfort to Rina who says: “My womanhood was taken away... I used to be so alive.
“We just hope our human rights win [this case] before we die.”
Daily Voice