PORT ELIZABETH - A mother who was attacked and raped in full view of her 12-year-old daughter at their farmhouse in Hankey in the Eastern Cape said she would never forget her alleged assailant’s face nor would she make a mistake in identifying the man who spent four hours with her and her three children.
The woman, 44, recalled details of the attack in March last year while testifying under cross-examination in the high court in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday.
She said the attacker stormed their house just after 8pm as she was getting into bed and her children were in their lounge.
Her husband had gone on a hunting trip, leaving the children 15, 12 and 9 at home with their mum.
Sebenzile Simane, 32, has pleaded not guilty to a string of charges related to the incident. They include housebreaking, robbery, kidnapping, rape, attempted rape, causing children to witness a sexual offence, attempted murder, unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
According to his lawyer, Simane insists he was not her attacker and that the woman was making a mistake.
He did however admit drawing money at an ATM using her bank card after footage was obtained by police.
Simane claims the woman’s bank cards were given to him by a friend. He insists he withdrew the money and then later returned the cards.
But the mother said: "I handed this man my bank cards and I gave him my PIN number personally.”
She had earlier said while the family were being held in the lounge she gave him R600 from her handbag with bank cards and told him he could draw more at an ATM.
The mom said she offered to drive him to an ATM because he could not start her vehicle. She said she wanted to get him away from her children in the hope that they would find help.
The mother of three said she was shot in the buttocks before her attacker threatened to rape her in front of her three children, a threat he later made good on.
She said he raped her in full view of her daughter when they were taken from the lounge to the main bedroom.
“He was so close to me I will never ever forget his face,” she said.
She said the most trauma she experienced was during the time Simane was with her and her three children.
After Simane drew the money in town, the woman drove off to find help at her husband’s cousin’s house, she testified earlier.
On Wednesday she testified that police wanted her to be examined at the Humansdorp Hospital at the rape crisis centre.
“The hospital was chaotic there was blood everywhere. Stab wounds and it was very unhygienic.”
The woman said she was later transferred to a private hospital to have the bullet in her buttocks removed.