Rotten Mango - #54: Abducted, Tortured, Left For Dead (Case of Alison Botha)

Episode Date: April 11, 2021

She was driven off the main road where she was assaulted, disemboweled, and left for dead.  Against all odds, she managed to survive this attack. But that was just the beginning of a diabolical cr...ime... Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:31 Welcome to this week's mini-sode. This week's mini-sode is a story about Alice and Batha and this is probably one of the most intense survival stories that I have ever, ever learned about in my entire freaking life. And it's the type of story that makes you want to like hold on to your stomach. Like you know when you're watching something particularly gruesome or you're listening to something that's incredibly dark and graphic, you just keep grabbing at your stomach. Sometimes you grab at your neck because you're like, I don't know how to feel. It's one of those stories.
Starting point is 00:01:01 So like people just grab onto their fingers or elbows. Stephanie goes to grab on there, stomach and neck and cheeks. For some reason, anytime it's like super graphic about one part of the body, I have to hold on to that part of the body. When I'm like researching it, when I'm reading about it, I will literally have to take my hand off the computer and hold my neck or something. Anytime I don't know what the deal is about it. Let me know if you feel the same, but this story, I have to put a quick disclaimer,
Starting point is 00:01:30 because if you can't already tell, it's going to be intensely graphic, and I think for the reason that the victim of the story, she is a survivor. She's a bad bitch. She's a goddess. Holy cow, I freaking love her. But she is alive, thankfully, to this day that she tells people about it for raising awareness for these types of crimes And I don't normally do these disclaimers because I feel like every crime has an undertone of sexual assault and right because that's the world that we live in But this one it's gonna be heavily focused on it and it's gonna get dark
Starting point is 00:01:59 It's gonna get gruesome. So this is your disclaimer and we're just gonna jump right into it So today's story takes place in South Africa near Port Elizabeth, which I hear is very, very beautiful place. Alice and Batha, ever since she was a kid, she was known to be super smart, super confident, and just full-on charismatic so much so that all of her teachers and all of her friends that you, you one day are gonna grow up to become an attorney, a doctor. Like, this is your calling. Like, with this much charisma, you've got to go into a field like this. And I think because she had all of this intense pressure to become like the best attorney, South Africa I've ever seen. She just, as a kid, was like, wait, I don't know if that's what I want to do. I don't know what I want to do. I just, I haven't really given that much thought about it.
Starting point is 00:02:43 She was the, um, head girl at school, which in America that doesn't exist. So every time I hear head girl, I think of Hogwarts. Because you know, they're like the head boy in the head girl at school. So she was the head girl. She was smart. She was popular. And she wasn't like the mean girl's popular. She was actually popular, like genuinely a happy person that people wanted to be around. And it had to do with the fact that no matter how well she was doing, which she was doing really well, she was always supportive. She is like the type of person, she will support you in all your endeavors, she will be your number one cheerleader. And ever since she was young, everyone saw her as this strong, independent individual.
Starting point is 00:03:20 And her parents were kind of largely the reason for that. So her parents were divorced when she was 10, but they raised her right. So she was living with her mom. And I believe, um, her dad moved like a couple towns over. So they weren't like always with each other, but they had a really, really good relationship. And her mom always told her, it doesn't matter. Just do your best. You can be proud of yourself if you do your best. You don't have to be the best in class. You don't have to be the best in the town.
Starting point is 00:03:43 As long as you do your best, you can be proud. Who cares if nobody else is proud of you? And her mom said, I don't care what you are when you grow up. I'm going to support the shit out of you. So she just had this really what she calls a wonderful sense of self. That's what she said. She just had self confidence. She knew that she had this support system. And she really used that to her abilities because she spent four years overseas. She started traveling more. She's like, all right, let me figure out what's next in my life. She was working at this insurance company, and she's like, I don't know if this is what
Starting point is 00:04:13 I want to do forever. So, she's back in South Africa after four years abroad. She's 27 years old, and she's figuring out her life when in December 18th of 1994 the craziest thing happens. December 18th a little bit before Christmas. This is perfect summer days in South Africa. The sun is shining. People are at the beach and Allison included. So all of her friends they go out to the beach together. The smell of beach just was all over them. Their hair had that salt in it. They come home after smelling like sunscreen. It's like a good summer day. They come home after smelling like sunscreen.
Starting point is 00:04:45 It's like a good summer day. They get her a house and all of her friends come over. They order pizza, they start playing games. And it was just- Oh, old was he? 27. It was just picture perfect. So after all of her friends slowly start leaving,
Starting point is 00:04:57 one of her friends was like, hey, I didn't drive. Like, can you drop me off back at my house? And Allison was like, of course. Also, I did my laundry at your place so I can pick that up. So she drives her friend to her place and drops her off, picks up her laundry and starts driving back home. Now at this point, it's completely dark outside, but she lives in a pretty populated area.
Starting point is 00:05:14 So she's driving driving. And the spot that was right in front of her apartment unit was taken. That was the spot that she had parked in when they just got home from the beach. She's like, dammit. So she keeps driving up looking for a parking spot. And she found one that was a little bit further away from her house, but no big deal. So she parks her car and she's about to get out. She's collecting her stuff.
Starting point is 00:05:33 I mean, she's got to carry this tub of clothes, this tub of laundry. And that is when she realized that she hadn't locked the doors. And her driver's side door. What did he do? Her car door. Okay. Came flying open and a man came up next door and put a knife to her throat and said, move over.
Starting point is 00:05:51 Wait, I'm so confused. Is she outside the car right now? No, she's sitting in the driver's seat, driving her things, and then the driver's side door opens up. So now it's like she can't even get out because there's someone right in front of her. And he's holding up a knife to her throat saying, you know, hop on over to the passenger side or else. So she moves to the passenger side. He gets into the driver's side, closes the door shut, and starts driving away. Now she keeps, she kept thinking herself like, should I have jumped, you know? It's hard being in that situation.
Starting point is 00:06:21 A lot of people tell, told her, why didn't you't you jump like did you jump? Did you think about jumping and she just I mean think about it like in that situation You're like well, what if it's what if he's just trying to see on my car? Maybe I can you know there was just a lot and he kept telling her I'm not trying to hurt you Don't be alarmed. I just need to use your car for about an hour So I'm sure maybe there was this thought which I was thinking of okay Maybe this guy is like in some shady business He needs to use my car to like transport some illegal drugs or some shit, right? Maybe it's like that.
Starting point is 00:06:49 Maybe at a stop sign he'll just kick me out. I hope. I mean, that seems better than pissing off a guy with a knife, right? And so she lied about her name. He was like, what's your name? He's like, making all this small talk. And she says, well, my name's Susan. It's Allison.
Starting point is 00:07:03 And he was like, well, do you have a boyfriend? Susan? And she said, yeah, well, I mean, he's at home right now waiting for me. Actually, why don't you just let me go? You can just take the car with you. I won't report it to the police. The car is getting old anyway. And my boyfriend's probably getting really suspicious and alarmed right now. So I should probably head back. And he kept saying, no, I just kind of want some company. I need to go pick up a friend anyway. So she's like trying to have a conversation with him being like, hey, it's totally fine if you just let me go.
Starting point is 00:07:32 I'll find my way back and I won't call the cops. But he's just not falling for it. And he tells her that his name is Clinton, which is a lie. And he just starts giving Alice in this like, flawless sense of security, just straight up telling her it's not about you. I just need your car for an hour. I don't even want to steal your car. I just need a bar of it for an hour. So they stop a little while later,
Starting point is 00:07:52 deeper into like the dark part of the city, like the part where, you know, your parents will like, hey, don't go there, you're gonna get robbed. And so they go there and they pick up a guy. She didn't fully turn around to see him, but he got into the back seat, and she tried to look at him through the rear view mirror And that is when her relief of like okay, maybe this guy genuinely just wants to use my cart for illegal stuff
Starting point is 00:08:11 Turned into just dead cold fear because when she made eye contact with the new guy that just got into the back His eyes were just pure evil She didn't know how to explain it But just looking into that rearview mirror, any sense of security, everything just flew out that window. In that moment, she realized she wouldn't be going home. So they drive past the city and they start heading towards some sort of like alcove where there's lots of sand, no street lights. I mean, it's really off the beaten path and he stops the car and the guy from the back seat gets out and
Starting point is 00:08:43 starts smoking a cigarette not too far from the car So it's just her and the driver sitting there in the complete silence and he's like, well, how do you turn off the lights of your car? So she reaches over turns off the lights and he brings out the knife again and asks her if she's gonna fight While he's holding a knife. I mean, that's like a really aggressive question. So she's like, um, I guess not I mean she said that she thought through everything. She was like, do I run now? Do I jump now? But the guy is outside. He's going to catch me. There's no one else that can hear me cry. I don't even know where this road leads to. I've never been here before. I mean, there was just so much going on in her mind. And eventually she said, no. So then he forces her into giving him
Starting point is 00:09:19 oral sex. And it was incredibly, incredibly aggressive. He kept holding the knife right in front of her face while he was aggressively pushing her head down and he said, if you bite me, I will kill you. And she was just freaking out. And then finally afterwards, he pushed her back and then he forcibly gave her oral sex. And he constantly kept asking these disgusting questions, like, do you like it?
Starting point is 00:09:43 Does your boyfriend do this to you? And afterwards he kissed her and said that you have the nicest tasting fanny. And so the whole time she did everything to not give them the satisfaction. So she didn't want to seem scared. She didn't want to seem like, oh my god, that's absolutely disgusting. She said that she took out all of her emotions and just became like a rag doll. That's how she explains it. She's like these guys are gonna rape me and she even kept hyping herself up She says that's okay let them rape me because I can survive this. I got this. I can get through this I can go home. I can go to the police. I can tell my family. My parents are gonna support me I can do this. That's what she kept telling herself and she also kept telling herself
Starting point is 00:10:24 He is doing this to your body, but not you, because he can never really touch you. And she just kept repeating this in her head while she laid their lip. So then afterwards, he rapes her fully in the car and he gets out and he asks the other guy, do you want to have sex with the lovely lady? Straight up. Do you want to have sex with the lovely lady? And that evil guy from the back seat, who's like 19,
Starting point is 00:10:47 by the way, he straight up looks as a little partner in crime and says, no, I want to fuck the bitch. And so now the driver gets out of the car. He gets into the car and he rapes her as well. So after all of this, she starts getting strangled by one of the guys. And she just remembers that she peas herself and then she wakes up outside of the car on the sand now.
Starting point is 00:11:10 And the guys are standing over her. And this peas herself is so important. Her peeing herself saved her life. I know it's going to sound insane, but it saved her life. So she peas herself. She gets dragged out of the car. Now she's laying in the sand. And these guys are hanging out over her.
Starting point is 00:11:26 And the next thing she remembers is one of them holding a knife and slicing her throat. And then she just hears stabbing. And she was stabbed in her abdomen and her pelvic area over 37 times. And her throat was cut over 17 times. She was conscious pretty much the whole time. Are they torturing her or are they trying to kill her? They're trying to kill her. And she said ironically the moon behind him was a full moon and it was placed that she's looking up staring at this guy who is slicing her throat and the moon is giving him some sort of like a halo behind his face.
Starting point is 00:12:05 And it was like the most ironic thing in life ever and then eventually she didn't even connect with the pain. She felt no pain at that moment. She was just laying there. She saw their feet get smaller, their voices were disappearing and then she heard them toss her clothes out almost right next to her and they drove away. So they thought that she's dead? Yeah, I mean, she was stabbed.
Starting point is 00:12:25 OK, well, here's the graphic part. She was stabbed over 37 times. At the beginning's graphic, later, it's going to get into a lot of the court battles, the people who find her, her recovery. And then also why they said they did this and there are other rapes because they're serial rapist. So what was they saying?
Starting point is 00:12:41 Oh yeah, she said that, yeah, they thought she was dead. Her bowels were outside of her body. She was disemboweled. Like her intestines were outside of her body. She was stabbed over 37 times in her abdomen and pelvic area. Her throat was almost completely severed. I mean, she was nearly decapitated. Yeah, they thought they, they thought she was dead. So they just toss her clothes out and they drive away. So she doesn't feel any pain, but she can hear something and she's like, what is that sound?
Starting point is 00:13:11 She's like in and out of consciousness, like what the fork is that sound. And it's this wheezing sound and she realizes that it's her severed windpipe was causing every breath to sound like this really painful wheezing, gurgling sound. So that's when she realizes, holy shit, even though I don't feel pain, I'm not gonna live anymore. Like, I'm gonna straight up die. I am dying right now. And she set that moment, was just like this cloud of sadness, this overwhelming sadness, because she didn't really want to die. And then slowly, it's like, she just became more distant from the situation. I feel like it's hard to explain these types of things, because people make it sound like it's like she just became more distant from the situation.
Starting point is 00:13:45 I feel like it's hard to explain these types of things because people make it sound like it's like a spiritual moment, right? But I think it's genuinely just like a disassociating with your own body type of moment as my opinion, right? And so she's just like distant from her body and there was just a lot going on in that moment in her mind, mentally speaking. I mean physically speaking yes, of course But she just really wanted a chance at a better life her whole thing was like what the heck? I never even found out what I wanted to do like the past four years I've been overseas trying to figure out what I'm gonna do with the rest of my life
Starting point is 00:14:16 And I haven't figured it out and now you're telling me my life is over like this is this is insane And then the next thing is that she didn't want this to happen to anybody else. Wow. She was like, this is, I mean, they're gonna keep doing this. So during the stabbings, because they knew that she was gonna die as their perspective, they were calling each other by their real names, because Clinton is not his real name. It's actually Franz and Tians.
Starting point is 00:14:42 Is she remembered it? And she remembered it. And she remembered it. They called each other by their real names. So she's laying in the sand and she uses all that energy to write down Tians and friends. And she wrote down the last thing she wrote underneath that was, I love mom. Just in case she died.
Starting point is 00:15:02 Oh my god. She wanted her mom to know, like I love you. And so she's like in and out of consciousness. She looks down because she kept feeling something wet at her legs. And she looks down and she realizes her intestines are out of her body. And she starts thinking quick. So the denim shirt that she was wearing had been tossed out close to her. So she reaches for it near her body, grabs it,
Starting point is 00:15:24 and she holds the denim shirt against her stomach to hold everything in. So she's got one hand holding everything in. And the other hand, she starts to crawl on her knees while the other hand is holding her stomach together. Now, the other issue is that the sand was filled with ash and cut grass. I mean, it was incredibly painful. I mean, regardless of the fact that she has all these injuries, even just me stepping on it with my bare feet, I'm sure I would have cried. And so she's like, okay, this is too difficult. She had managed to crawl a tiny bit, but not a lot. So in that moment, she thought to herself, if I collapse right now, and I crawled from where I wrote their names and where all that blood is,
Starting point is 00:16:00 and I crawl over here, and I pass out now. My mom is going to know that I survived for a little bit and that's going to break her heart. But it wasn't like this painless, at least she can go to sleep thinking, okay, my daughter didn't die in pain, my daughter probably was unconscious when this happened and it would just lead to more questions and more heartbreak and she didn't want her family to go through that. So she said, all right, I gotta do better. That's straight up what she told herself in this moment. I have to do better. Like what does that mean?
Starting point is 00:16:32 She can't crawl, she has to start walking. So she used all the energy that she had to hoist her self up and when she stood up, she said, everything went black. And it was like the weirdest thing ever. And she thought it had something to do with her throat. This is gonna get really graphic. And when she went to touch her throat, her hand went completely inside her throat.
Starting point is 00:16:53 So they had severed the neck muscle in her throat and she was practically decapitated. She had to hold up her head with her other hand. So one hand is holding her abdomen. The other one is holding her head up. And she said, at this moment, the strangest feeling just took over. It's as if someone else had taken control of her legs and they just started moving for her. She didn't feel the pain of every step. She just, it's like she just got to the road and that's the
Starting point is 00:17:17 next thing she remembered. She doesn't know what happened. And I don't know if it's like this spiritual thing, maybe it is, or maybe it has to do with the fact that you wear your brain is so Crazy that's what I kept thinking like your brain is that crazy that it's just trying to protect you at all cost And so she ends up at the road There's not the most traffic here, but there are but there are cars here and there right? So she gets to the main road and she collapses Straight on to the middle of that road and she sees a car coming and she's laying in the middle of the road almost completely naked. She's holding a denim shirt, you know, she's not wearing it and you know, she keeps thinking
Starting point is 00:17:54 what if they run over me? Or worse, what if it's them again? But she did not have any more fight in her, so she just laid there. And the first car came closer and closer, and then it sped off right past her. It swerved off the road to go around her. She said she wasn t mad, because she understood, but she was just sad. That s just the feeling, just sad. And then the sound of another car.
Starting point is 00:18:21 And this car was jam-packed with people, and it came to a screeching halt. So inside this car was a 20-year-old veterinary student, which is so important. His name is Tion. He is, she calls him her night in shining armor. So he's 20 years old. Wait, his name is Tion? Yeah, and the other guy is 10s.
Starting point is 00:18:40 There's something like that. Okay, it's T-H-E-U-N-S. I spent a ton of time going on to those pronunciation websites, but there's different ways of pronounciating for each language. So from what I can, the documentary calls him like, they're so fancy, like 10s, 10s, shit. Okay, so we're gonna call him Mr. E because his last name starts with an E, right? So Mr. E is a 20 year old veterinary student and he was on vacation in port Elizabeth. He's not even from here. So he's got all of his
Starting point is 00:19:10 friends from veterinary school. They're all up in that car and the first thing that they see on this road is a woman completely naked. I mean this is insane. So he rushes out of the car and one of the first people out was one of his friends that was a girl and she's just screaming at the top of her lungs because this is this is a horrific gruesome crime scene and he's like all right you need to go back in the car so she's rushing back into the car and he gets on his hands and knees and he takes her hand immediately he takes Allison's hand immediately and he tries to look her in the eyes and she opens her eyes they're completely bloodshot and they look weak she looks terrified I mean think about it. After all of this happened, now a group of guys are rushing towards her like I would be terrified. So she couldn't talk but something about him she said
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Starting point is 00:21:41 Is there anything you wouldn't do for them? So right now, to save 30% on select solid gold products, go to solidgoldpet.com slash run that's solidgoldpet.com slash run to save 30% on select solid gold products. Remember, solidgoldpet.com slash rotten. There was just something in his face. He was calm, he was collected, and he wanted her to limp. She just felt safe in that moment. So he told his friends, if you're going to scream, if you're going to freak out, go back in the car, call the police right now.
Starting point is 00:22:15 And he started getting to work. He took off his shirt so that he could apply gentle pressure to her neck because she's losing blood. He knew, he knew because he had done done a year in veterinary school. So he has a basic sense of medical knowledge even when it pertains to humans. So he knew that he had to keep an injured person conscious. Otherwise, you know, that's why in all those movies, they're like, stay with me, stay with me. So that's pretty much what he was doing. He starts applying pressure to the neck, she starts getting scared again. And he's like, okay, you need to work on your breathing. So he's
Starting point is 00:22:43 like counting her breathing with her, coaching her on her breathing a lot of cars at this point are stopped behind them some of these car people they get out to see what's going on they see her body they start trying to direct the cars as cars are driving they're just like stopping on the side of the road to like look at her before they drive away And it was just absolutely hectic, but he did not. He did not, Mr. E did not once look at anything else other than Allison. He was not distracted. He was not trying to like look at everyone, be like, oh, what's going on? Like, why is there a car here? He was focused. And she kept pointing down at her legs. And he saw that the denim shirt was covered in blood and it was covering her stomach. and there was like a few bruises
Starting point is 00:23:25 It looks like maybe like a small stab wound Before he could see and he gently pulled it away and that's when he saw the real extent of her injuries because even just her throat alone is a life-threatening condition So now he's like how did she survive? But he remained calm. He didn't freak out didn't let her see that he was freaked out And he called one of his friends over and said, I need you to massage her legs because it's important to keep her circulation in the legs. So one of the friends is massaging Allison's legs and she keeps trying to follow sleep. And she said it was like a little game. Anytime he looked down at her legs or her stomach, she would just close her eyes for two seconds
Starting point is 00:24:01 because all she wanted to do was just close her eyes. She was so tired. She just wants to go to sleep And he just needed her attention So he starts at first asking her about the crime So she couldn't talk at this point, but she could squeeze his hand So one was yes, and like two was no or something of that sort and he gathered from that because he didn't know she's gonna live So he wanted to catch the killers because he didn't know if she's gonna live. So he wanted to catch the killers. So she was raped, her car was jacked,
Starting point is 00:24:27 he even got the type of the car so that they could find that car so that they could track down the people who killed her. We'll try to. I mean, she's impressive, but he's also. Impressive too, yeah. And he got the fact that it was two men and he just keeps babbling on,
Starting point is 00:24:42 he's doing everything, he's talking to her, trying to keep her attention. And he can't just say random shit, because if she's not attentively listening, if he's just like, so the sky is blue, she's gonna go to sleep. So he kept saying, well, do you have a boyfriend? And she said, no.
Starting point is 00:24:56 And he said, well, you better live, because listen, you're gonna need to take me out on a date, because you ruined my shirt. And I need someone to pay for the dry cleaning. And even in that moment, he was so shocked because she gave him the most incredible smile when he made that joke. Like, through all of this, she's like laying on the road, giving him a smile right now.
Starting point is 00:25:19 Like, what the actual fork? And she kept saying that she kept telling her that she has really pretty eyes so she needs to keep them open and she felt flattered so she almost she felt like I need to stay alive for this guy for the sake of this guy not even for me I mean this guy's trying so freaking hard like he's giving it is all right now so she felt like she couldn't die so the police when they were called they said they're standing in ambulance and it would be 15 minutes drive from the local hospital and they waited 15 minutes passed, 20 minutes passed, 30 minutes passed, 40 minutes passed. It would be a full 90 minutes before the police or the paramedics arrive. That is absolutely insane.
Starting point is 00:26:06 And Allison said the whole time, Mr. E. was calm, collected, but the minute that the paramedics arrived, he looked really relieved. Like, that was the first time there was any indication that like, he was stressed the fuck out, like, he was just calm, and collected the whole time. So he got into the ambulance with her because she like refused to let go of his hand and he kept asking them to drive fast her.
Starting point is 00:26:32 But it seemed like they didn't care. The paramedics, they thought she was dead already. So what's the rush? Like there's no way she's going to survive this. So they're like what matters if we get there in 10 minutes or 5 minutes, she's a goner. So he's like yelling at the driver's non-stop and he held her hand until the police had to pry them off of each other. And he just, he told her, I'm gonna be here when you wake up.
Starting point is 00:26:54 Don't worry. And she was upset. She wanted him to like come into the OR with her. Like, he, she, this was like the only calming presence in her life. And Tien, or Mr. E standing shirtless in this hospital, blood all over him. With this woman, he doesn't even know her name. That is the moment that he decided, I can't go back to veterinary school. I need to become a doctor. And he will actually become a doctor and be the doctor that gives birth to one of her children later in life. Be the... oh... so they didn't get together?
Starting point is 00:27:28 Oh you did that no! And you have to hold on. He was next! Come on! They don't even live in the same town. I know. But yeah, and so Allison's a cheap mist Mr. E immediately. There was just something about his presence.
Starting point is 00:27:45 I was just so calming. And she kept thinking to herself in that moment while she's waiting to be operated on. If it wasn't him, if it was me, Stephanie Sue, she said if it was someone who just was out of control screaming, just frantic, she probably wouldn't have made it. She probably wouldn't have stayed calm, kept her focused. Now the doctors who received Allison into their care, these are trauma doctors so every day they deal with trauma.
Starting point is 00:28:09 That's their main thing and nobody had experienced the horror of the injuries that Allison had suffered. They had seen it all, they saw severe car accidents, intense bar fights, they saw a lot of knife fights, gunshot wounds. I mean, they saw a lot. But the sheer brutality, the doctor said, and I quote, the sheer brutality, mindless destruction of a human really got to me. Got to the dawn of the doctor. Yeah. Cause it just doesn't make sense. How do you just try to destroy a human body like that? I mean, what? So one of the, the anesthesiologists was one of the first people to see her because they need to put her to sleep
Starting point is 00:28:49 so that they can operate on her and see the real extent of all of her injuries. And she was covered in a white sheet. She was still awake at this point. And he's assessing her neck and it was horrific. He said, from ear to ear lacerations close to 17, her trachea and windpipe had been completely cut through. And we're going to get into the windpipe later
Starting point is 00:29:08 because it becomes a miracle. She was breathing through a hole right above her collarbone. And the junior doctor, who after he assesses her neck, he's about to go and do a report and put her under, right? But the junior doctor is like, wait a minute, but you can't go yet. And he's like, what do you mean? And he very gently pulls back the sheet.
Starting point is 00:29:29 And that's when the anesthesiologist is like, what the hell? I thought it was just her neck. And the neck itself was one of the worst things he had ever seen. And she was, I mean, completely disemboweled. Her intestines were lying on top of her tummy. and because she had been laying on the road, it was contaminated with beach sand, lumps of charcoal, and other foreign objects. And the doctors were just amazed. I mean, she was awake at this point. She signed her consent form to be operated on. And they said, if you look at her signature, it's so steady.
Starting point is 00:30:06 It's so clear. You would never think it was signed with someone that had any injuries. She also wrote her mom's phone number right underneath it so clearly so that they could get in contact with her family. I mean, the doctors, this was insane. So immediately once they get into the operating room, the doctors were all in a different headspace. So her main doctor, who happened to be on call that night, was also a throat specialist. So I mean, everything just like worked out. It was like a miracle.
Starting point is 00:30:32 And they, they were not operating on her like they would any normal patient. They, I mean, this was like a moment of them trying to save the little piece of humanity that they had inside their souls. Because after you see something like this, you need to protect this. You need to do everything you can to make sure that this person lives because they did not go through all of that for what to die on your table. No. I mean, it was insane. They said it was some of the best work that they've ever seen other doctors do.
Starting point is 00:31:02 Because there was a lot of nurses and doctors helping out. The main doctor, he scrubbed every inch of her bowel so meticulously to get every inch, every little piece of debris, every little piece of anything. He got it off. And all the doctors said they do not believe in miracles. It's just not something that people in the science field believe in. They kind of think it's like a cop out. So if you don't understand something, you say it's a miracle and they don't like that. Why don't you just try to understand what happened?
Starting point is 00:31:30 But they said for this, they just have no academic answer on how she survived. It's a miracle. Yeah. And so the NSE geologist. I would say probably it's her willpower. I think it's a mix of everything and she even breaks it down at the end She's like this is all the reason like the moon has to do with it her peeing has to do with it Like every little thing with it's so crazy So doctor David didn't even go home. That's the anesthesi geologist
Starting point is 00:31:57 He stayed with her the whole night in the intensive care unit and right in the morning the police officers come to talk to the doctors And they said we think we already have the guys So we're just gonna show her pictures and she has to point them out in the morning, the police officers come to talk to the doctors and they said, we think we already have the guys. So we're just going to show her pictures and she has to point them out in the photo line up. So these guys were arrested. They had already been arrested twice before on different rape charges. They were out on bail when they tried to murder Allison.
Starting point is 00:32:19 So they go to the hospital with a folder of pictures and they turned each page one by one. I mean, she's got a two-bidden throat throat, she is barely conscious and she said in the beginning like all it was just so much color and pictures and she's like what the fork is going on and immediately she picks out a photo of Franz and the other guy and she stopped and wrote both of their names on the photo and signed it. So the police they seem pretty satisfied, they leave and then they come back in the photo and signed it. So the police, they seem pretty satisfied, they leave. And then they come back in the afternoon and they talk to the NSE geologist again and they tell them, hey, the prosecutors said that we would have a stronger case if she verbalizes their
Starting point is 00:32:52 names. And all of the doctors were fucking horrified. They said, in order for her to do that, we have to remove the tube from her lungs right now, through her trachea that we just operated on. Because right now it's going through her trachea that we just operated on, because right now it's going through her vocal cords so she cannot speak through this tube, and it would be painful. We might even jeopardize the good work that we did to fix her, she could die. And they were like, well, that's what the prosecutors told us. So the doctor sits down with her and tells her what's going on. And she writes down on a piece of paper, take it out. So they take out the tube and her first words were, that's wonderful because she could talk
Starting point is 00:33:34 and she said, my attackers were friends and tans and officer Melvin Humphle gets put on the case. So he's now the lead investigator and the minute that he sees Allison, Allison didn't really like him in the beginning neither did his family or her family because he's like kind of a tough looking dude but he just was never pushy, was always gentle and he was dedicated to this case. So he realizes that they already had two arrest warrants. So the first victim that was raped by these two men, she was doing a pizza survey. So she's like a secret chopper. So this woman, she works for a pizza company and they said,
Starting point is 00:34:08 Hey, today you're going to wear a plane clothes, you're going to go into our rival pizza chain, and you're going to order some pizza, eat it, go into the car and take this survey about the customer service blah, blah, blah, blah. So she eats the pizza, she gets into her car, and she starts writing about the customer service. And that is when her car door swings open and a gun is placed on her head and they tell her to move over and it was fun. So it's just the main guy, the driver of friends. And she moves over to the passenger seat and he drives her to a wooded area and he raps her.
Starting point is 00:34:37 And then he drives her to a local restaurant, buys her a sandwich and one rose like a sick gesture. Like, fucking arrogant and disgusting. Allison says, like, what is the audacity in this, you know? And then he raped her again. After she ate the sandwich. And the whole time he kept talking to her, like she's like this long lost girlfriend.
Starting point is 00:34:59 He dropped off at the house and told her, you know, that was an amazing time and you're an amazing person and I can't wait to make it up to you sometime. And this lasted three hours. So when she goes home from this three hour ordeal, she couldn't even speak to her parents. She just was like a zombie for the next week. And finally, a week had passed and she told her friend what had happened and they begged her to go to the police. And she did because she was doing a lot of alarming stuff, which she later finds out is because PTSD, she would go out in the middle of the night
Starting point is 00:35:26 and deliberately put herself in danger the past week, which is a common reaction in victims of PTSD. And she just didn't know why she was doing that. Like, what is happening? And then of course, because you start blaming yourself, you're like, why would I do that unless I wanted something bad to happen to me? Like, what's wrong with me?
Starting point is 00:35:43 And so, you know, she finds out that's what happened. They tell the police, they arrest him, and then they let him go. And then the second victim, this was friends and his friends, Tians. Together, they rape a heavily pregnant 21 year old woman who was going to the local coffee shop to buy something. Now, immediately, they were like,
Starting point is 00:36:01 you're not gonna call the cops, right? You promised, and they had a knife turn throughout, and she said, said no of course not Immediately after they leave she runs and finds the local police car like the closest one and tells them everything So they arrest the two men and I mean this is so strange. They just let them go Like you're talking about violent rape and they're just like all right Well trials gonna start you're out on. And that's when they attacked. And that's when they attacked Allison.
Starting point is 00:36:27 And they told themselves, well, we've got to kill the next one because these two kept going to the cops. So the police put this all together and they were like, okay, this must be her. So while Allison was being operated on, they found the two guys. And they just wanted to check out
Starting point is 00:36:40 where they lived and asked them a couple of questions. If it wasn't these two guys, then fine, they'll go find another lead. But once they get to the apartment that friends lives in, her car was like a block away. So they're like, all right, these are the guys. They burst through the apartment and they arrest them and they were both still sleeping. Now what makes this crazy is when they're brought in. So these two rapists, they're brought in and the police tell them what they're being charged for and both of them were shocked. They said, attempted murder. were shocked They said attempted murder
Starting point is 00:37:06 What the fuck is attempted murder? When did I attempt to murder anyone? Mm-hmm And they said yeah, you attempted to murder Allison But you failed because she's alive and she remembers everything and she's talking and they are shocked This is the only time that they showed emotion the whole time they were just acting like no one can touch us And they were shocked they they were scared, and one of them pulled the ring off of his finger, and said, oh, alright, well, this is Allyson's, by the way. They had taken her rings. I can't believe. And there was still blood on them.
Starting point is 00:37:42 And there are two things, one of them said, oh fuck, she's alive, then I won't even help if I lie. Another one said, that's impossible, she couldn't have survived that. At the police station? At the police station, to the police. Okay, is there another confession right there? Yeah, and so friends, the driver, the one that did most of the stabbing, he was married and had a wife and a child
Starting point is 00:38:06 and his wife stood by him throughout all of this by the way. So, tens, the side kick, he's 19 years old when he's arrested and he tells the police everything that that night they're drinking, they're barbecuing and they decide let's go rape a girl but we have to kill her because remember the last two they kept going to the cops we can't have that. So when they slid her throat after they raped her, he asked friends, do you think she's dead? And friends looked at him with like a little coy smile and said, well let's find out. And that's when he started stabbing her all over the stomach in the private area and
Starting point is 00:38:38 then started slashing her throat some more. They ransacked her car, they threw out any of her stuff that had no value. They drove home, drank some beers, ate some food. And you want to know about that eating the food. They found the murder weapon in the kitchen because they had used the bloody knife to cut fruit and stuff to eat. They didn't even wipe off the blood.
Starting point is 00:38:59 I'm just at a loss of words. And while they're explaining this to the police, they said that they were kind of upset with her car because it wasn't that new. And it just didn't drive that well. And they had plans right after this. If they weren't arrested that day, because they were arrested at 11 in the morning,
Starting point is 00:39:16 they were sleeping in, because I guess I had a rough couple of days. They decided that that day, they were going to go abduct another woman. And this time, they wanted to throw her off a bridge to kill her. They were going to rape her and then throw her off a bridge. In this spark, to complete outrage from the public, so South Africa, like most countries, most pretty much every single country, has a big problem with violence against women with rape
Starting point is 00:39:45 Literally the whole world does and so this was all over the papers I mean the headlines. This is huge. This was a random act of violence. This wasn't It was one of those situations where you ask yourself that could have been me Why wasn't it me because this was her in her car? She wasn't being stalked It wasn't like a coworker fell in love with her at work and was like I'm gonna rape her Not saying that that's okay But every single person could relate to the fact that this was so random
Starting point is 00:40:09 It could have been me. It could have been my daughter. It could have been my wife. It could have been my sister And how can these perpetrators of rape such a violent crime? How are they out on bail? And while they're out on bail, they nearly murdered Allison. I mean this was insane So both of the guys tell the police that they're gonna plead guilty but the police don't trust a single thing out of their mouths so they have to still gather all of this evidence just in case it goes to trial so while they're in prison um friends the older one he acts like he is possessed by demons and demands to have a pastor perform
Starting point is 00:40:40 an exorcism on him he said that there was a demons trapped inside of his body. So it seemed like this was him already coming up with his own defense. And he said that he was, he had the incubus, which is a male demon that likes to have in a course with sleeping woman and impregnate them in their sleep. And then the succubus, which is a female demon that likes to lure men into infidelity and then kill them. And he said that he had both of them trapped in his body. But nobody really believed him because he would even get those two confused. Like he said that he was a satanist and that's why this thing happened. But you didn't even know the difference between an incubus and a succubus. Like he said that the incubus was a female demon. But like these are
Starting point is 00:41:19 like one of the most popular demons. And even I know that the incubus represents a male and the succubus represents a female, but he would get those confused and then he would just like be doing the most, acting like he's like having a possessed seizure inside of his jail cell, and of course they had to, they had to bring him pastors, but they thought he was just doing the most. So meanwhile, Mr. E, he went back to his hotel, showered, and went straight back to the hospital. And he kept his word. He stayed there day and night until his time frame to go back home, just right by her side. Every time her friends and family would come, they'd be like, who is he? And then he'd be like, oh, I'm Mr. E. And it was
Starting point is 00:42:02 just like, he was just sitting there, sleeping sleeping and just eating at the hospital everything just stayed by her It's insane Did you guys hear hot girl summer is back on yes I said it hot girl summer is back on so get ready to spend more time outdoors And do you know how I like to spend time outdoors sitting on things getting cushiony? Get laying down, basking in the sun. Okay, that's how I like to enjoy my outdoor time and with articles new outdoor collection I mean it's probably the best time right now So if you guys don't know about article they combine the curation of a boutique furniture store with the comfort and simplicity of shopping online furniture store with the comfort and simplicity of shopping online. Article is by far one of my favorite furniture places right now.
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Starting point is 00:44:02 automatically added at checkout. That's article.com slash rotten to get $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. article.com slash rotten. So her friends, they all went to go visit her and she was asleep when they went in to her room. So they sat there and they're trying to keep it together, but they just keep crying. Because they see like her scars on her neck, they see the tube, they see, well the tube is out at this point, but they see all of these things.
Starting point is 00:44:32 And they just start bawling their eyes out and she opens her eyes and she looks at them and they start crying more because her entire eyes were red. All of her blood vessels had burst. And so she's just, they're just crying more and she tells them, no, don't cry. Like it's okay. And she, imagine how tired she is. I mean, she said the pain was insane.
Starting point is 00:44:52 She pulls out her hand from underneath the hospital sheet and she says, look guys, don't cry. I didn't even break a nail. And they're looking at her hands and they're like crying and laughing because she didn't break an ill, but her fingers were bloody. I mean, they were wrecked, but like technically she didn't break an ill. And so it was just like this moment of what? And she had just like this amazing support system. Like she really did.
Starting point is 00:45:21 Her family, her dad flew in, her dad, her stepmom was there. All of them were showing her support. Her mom was there every single day. Her friends were there. Mr. E was there. And finally, when he left, he gave her a small cactus in a card that said, you were the bravest person I have ever met. And he would actually be there at the trial. He would testify. And he would later go on to win awards with her. Like citizen of the year awards with her. Wow. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:45:52 And then he would, yeah, be the doctor to give birth to her second son later, because he was going to med school after all of this. And South Africa was fucking outraged. She had flowers just filling up her hospital room because all of these women They were just I mean people everyone was outraged. I also don't want this to be a moment of oh God men are evil Because I don't agree with this statement not all men, but Allison even wrote in her book That a lot of people said the species of men, there's something wrong with them, but she told them if it weren't for some of the men in her life, she would have died.
Starting point is 00:46:29 If it weren't for Mr. E, if it weren't for some of her doctors, she would have died. So it's really not, oh man, but like that whole argument is dumb, so I don't want anyone to think I'm saying it's not all men, you know, but yeah, so all of these women, they were just rallying behind her. Her boss came, so he's like this insurance broker. And he was so upset because the news was talking about how the victim was alive and what hospital shoes being held at. And he was like, what if these evil monsters have friends?
Starting point is 00:46:57 What if these evil monsters escape jail? No. So he decided by his own admission that he was going to become her personal security guard. So for days, he was just sitting outside her hospital room, just like arms on his, arms on his hips, like no one's fucking coming in here before they talk to me. He was just so worried for her. So while all of this is happening, South African rape victims, their identities are almost always protected.
Starting point is 00:47:21 Prior to Alison's case, there was only one or two other women who came forward and revealed their identities of being the rape victims. And Alison, she almost immediately knew that she wanted to tell people. She didn't feel any shame. And she said, why do I have to hide my face? I'm not the one that committed a crime.
Starting point is 00:47:39 I don't understand. And she understands why people are reluctant to speak up because, well, her words were that in every society shame and there's like this weird notion that women have some responsibility for their own rapes. And she says, I get why girls don't do this. But she said at this time, someone has to shatter the myths. Why do women feel responsible for what happened to them?
Starting point is 00:48:05 Why are you reluctant to talk about it to show your face? If I was robbed, nobody would blame me. They wouldn't ask me, well why did you park your car there? Did you install extra alarms on your car? Did you make sure that your car was extra armed? Did you tell the robber that you didn't want to be robbed? They wouldn't ask her any of these things. And Allison knew her privilege.
Starting point is 00:48:25 She knew that she was lucky to have unconditional support from her family and friends. So if she did speak out and she could make anyone, just one woman feel a little bit braver, a little bit less full of shame for something that they didn't have to be shameful of, she would do it, she had to do it. It's kind of so impressive.
Starting point is 00:48:43 Yeah, and it's so impressive to the point where she even acknowledges that she could have only done this because she had a support system. Not saying, oh, I'm so much braver than everyone else, but she was like, if I didn't, I wouldn't have, you know? Right. Now that she survived her initial attack, I mean, it would still be years of recovery,
Starting point is 00:49:02 physically speaking, she still had to go through the court case. She still had to survive her court case. And she would have to go back to the hospital every single day to treat the injuries. They had to scrape her stomach every single day until it bled, because that's the only way to ensure that there's new cell growth. She had to undergo further surgeries. Her recovery, the only word she can describe is pain. She said it's all consuming all day through the night relentless pain. She said it's like this feeling that
Starting point is 00:49:31 the pain is so big that you're like, no, it's never going to go away. There's always going to be some leftover. You can never fully get rid of that pain and it'll always stay with her, but she loved visiting her doctor because she said he was one of the few people that did not pity her. And he was comfortable around people who are in pain. So he never felt too conscious around her and he would even make jokes. He would be scraping her stomach and she would say, that hurts. And he would just shrug and say, I can't feel anything.
Starting point is 00:50:00 So he just had like this. It was so interesting. Drossons of humor and they just laughed a lot and she just felt Even when I get better, I'm gonna miss these visits Because he just he got her so finally they removed the bandage around her neck and her scars shocked everyone She could tell anywhere she went they would all stare at her scars before they look her in the eyes and Someone suggested well, why don't you wear a scarf? Because maybe you'll feel less conscious about your own scar.
Starting point is 00:50:29 And she tried, but she said she got like this claustrophobic feeling, like when it was around her neck, like this panic. And so five to six months after the attack, I mean, they're just prepping for the trial. She had to have a clinical psychologist assessor assessor, and she just like was not ready for that. The police had to document her injuries. have a clinical psychologist assessor assessor and she just like was not ready for that. The police had to document her injuries and it was different policemen in different offices and they would just call her into the police station in the office and they would have to
Starting point is 00:50:53 take pictures of her injuries again to document like there were recovery all of this process and she would just have to take off her pants in the police officer's office to show them her pubic area so that they can take pictures. So think about the added trauma of all of this. Are you kidding me? But she never complained. She never resisted. I mean, this to her, this was her fight. So she didn't think it was like the police. This was this was her fight to bring these people down.
Starting point is 00:51:20 And the legal process, I mean, it just traumatizes the victims even more, like all for what? So the US Department of Justice, they did a study and the average sentence for a convicted, the jury found them guilty, convicted rapist was 9.8 years, but the average time served is 5.5 years. So imagine your traumatized, the legal process retraumatizes you all for what? For them to be in jail for five and a half years? I mean, obviously, Allison's case is going to be much different because we have attempted murder on the, you know, books, but this is insane.
Starting point is 00:51:57 So it's truly insane. The regular process, too, is the way that they would have to prep for her in trial is that she would have a lineup of a bunch of men and she would have to physically stand behind her rapist put her hand on her rapist shoulder so that the police can take a picture of it so that they can show the jury that she correctly identified the rapist. So they wanted her to stand and put her hand on the rapist shoulder. Now, Officer Melvin, the one who is die hard for this case, MVP, all of these people are MVP's.
Starting point is 00:52:33 He said, no, I'm not even going to ask her to do that. You're fucking crazy if you think I'm going to ask her to do that. So for the first time in South Africa, he suggested they use a one-way glass identification system. Now, I don't think it started in South Africa. Maybe he had seen other countries do it, but this was like the first documented case, he said. I can't think of like a thousand different ways to what is this?
Starting point is 00:52:58 So this is the norm today. You go into a room. It's one-way glass and the victim has to point and they can't see the victim. The victim can see the lineup of men, but still you're still in the a room. It's one way glass and the victim has to point and they can't see the victim The victim can see the lineup of men, but still you're still in the same room I don't know why you can't just take a video of the men and then show the victim take pictures I don't know why you have to physically be in the same room and Allison was petrified She said even if there is one way glass the thought of being in the same room is that I mean it was terrifying So she walks in there and she's just freaking out. She wants to do it right but she can't focus because she's so scared
Starting point is 00:53:28 and she's like got all this trauma rushing back and she's like injured by the way. She's like stitched up, her wounds are just open still. Like her stomach was, it was really bad, but at the same time it's almost like the ceiling of, I want to do it right so bad but I just want to get out of here and get this over with like I don't even care anymore. But within 30 seconds she correctly identified both of them. So the actual trial happens, and Officer Melvin did not handcuff the perpetrators from the car to the courthouse or in the courthouse at any moment, and he told them right before. He said, for the rest of the trial, I'm not going to handcuff you, because I want you to run. I want you to try running, because I'm gonna fucking shoot you dead.
Starting point is 00:54:09 He was like, just give me the chance, and I will fucking kill you. And so the whole trial, neither of them ever tried to run. Every single day in court, they did not try to run. And Allison said the whole trial was just strange. She felt so removed, like she was watching a courtroom TV drama. It didn't feel like hers. And then she would like suddenly get surprised because the judge would say her name
Starting point is 00:54:31 or someone would say her name. And she'd be like, oh my god, this is about me. And it was just the weirdest thing. Also, the press like overanalyzed her. She said one time she was sitting next to her mom. And because she was, I think it's like something your brain does. She was so disconnected from the trial. She straight up wrote down on her piece of paper, what do you want for lunch?
Starting point is 00:54:49 The press tech pictures of that and they were like, what do you think she was thinking? And they're like analyzing her body language. Maybe hungry? What do you mean? They were like, what do you think she read on that note? Oh, what you wrote, okay. Look at her body language. They were like, over analyzing her body language.
Starting point is 00:55:04 Which by the way, like we have this conversation, body language experts, quote you wrote, okay. Look at her body language. They were like over-analysing her body language, which by the way, like we have this conversation, body language experts, quote unquote experts, unless you've like worked for the FBI, and I've seen you in the video. What I hate most is backwards body, body, and eyes. It's like so, it's just anybody could do that. Like you say, when you found out this one is the murder, and then you can, I don't like that, right?
Starting point is 00:55:24 It's just like in the finance world It's the same thing everybody can look back and tell you 10 reasons why the the market is crashing I hate that kind of stuff. Yes Anyways, they were over analyzing the shit out of her body language She was so self-conscious and guess what she did not think this but friends testified He got up on the stand, but no one was expecting this. I mean, how do you get up on the stand like that? And he got up there with his full chest,
Starting point is 00:55:52 and the first thing he did was apologize for his haircut. Because he said there's not adequate facilities in prison for a decent haircut. There's just like what? So he starts talking about how his family is super religious. His dad is a police officer, which by the way, his dad will commit suicide two weeks after the trial because it seems like he had no idea. The father is a policeman.
Starting point is 00:56:14 Yeah, and it seems like he didn't have any idea what kind of monstrous son was. I don't know if he raised his son right. Why is he talking about his story? To get sympathy. So is he saying that he's innocent or where he's? No, so he said that his family was super religious and that is when he became a Satanist and he believed it was Satan inside of him, these demons. And this is what possessed him to kill Allison. He said it was like this voice in his head. These demons made him sexually insatiable and highly attractive to women and gave him powers to only move items
Starting point is 00:56:52 with using just his eyes. So he could look at a alarm clock and it would move. All right, don't tell us, show us. Exactly. And he claimed that he met 19-year-old Tans, his partner in crime, when Tans was buying liquor from him. And he claimed that he met 19 year old Tans, his partner in crime when Tans was buying liquor from him And he had this bandage on his foot and he said what happened to your foot? And Allison said that this is the one time in court. Oh, yeah She said this is the one time in court that she wanted to laugh out loud because France told the courtroom that Tans had shot himself in the foot with his own shotgun and
Starting point is 00:57:27 Tians had shot himself in the foot with his own shotgun and Allison's thought was that's pretty difficult to do with a shotgun I mean shotguns are really long like you'd have to literally point it at your foot Uh-huh, so she's like what kind of fucking idiot? She wanted to laugh like that. She just wanted to laugh like that's pretty good. Like are you kidding? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard and so he dragged the 19 year old into St. Nizh and because he wanted to help him with his low self esteem. And so they just bonded and they started raping people together. And that night it was the demons inside of both of them that told them to rape Allison
Starting point is 00:57:54 and the voice was so loud they could not ignore it. But he was sorry for what happened, but he said, and I quote, my hands were tied and it was, and I quote, my hands were tied, and it was, and I quote, outside of my power. He said the voice is told and so it wasn't even his choice. His hands were tied. He was in between a hard place and a rock, a rock and a hard place, fork. Now, I think he wanted to do like a whole satanic panic moment, but no one was believing it. And the death sentence had been taken out of South Africa at this point.
Starting point is 00:58:26 And the judge he was interviewed, and he said he really wanted it for this case. He would have sentenced them to death. And he's not a huge fan of the death penalty, but he would have. But instead, he sentenced them to life in prison. And this is the first time he had ever done this in his career. And he would never do it again.
Starting point is 00:58:41 But he wrote on record for all the prison officials to go with their prison sentence that he never wanted them to be out of prison. He never wanted them to be paroled because they are a danger to society. So friends, the driver, he was sentenced to three life terms with no possibility of parole, but they will get parole later. What? Yeah, and Tens, who was sentenced to one life term plus 25 years with no parole. And at the end, when both of them were walked back to jail, Tens banged his hand on the
Starting point is 00:59:11 wall in the courtroom, right as he was walking through the door and said, fuck you all. An Allison stated, this was a weird feeling. And she said, at least I had a trial. I can't imagine the injustice of not having that. It doesn't minimize what happened, but it certainly does help. But it's kind of weird because she explains it's not like you're getting a degree or winning on a ward. It's not like a celebratory woman. Like you you overcame something, but it's not it's not a celebration. Yeah. And that's when she realized, holy
Starting point is 00:59:40 shit, this is going to be the most difficult part because through all of this, she was just so focused on Her health. She was so focused on the trial. Now she has no more distractions Now it's her and her life and her trauma and she didn't have time to really sit with her trauma The bad guys go to prison and life just moves on for everyone, but Allison I mean she couldn't go back to regular life She couldn't even stay in her place anymore. She moved back in with her mom.
Starting point is 01:00:07 And she said she felt so bad for her mom. Her mom loved her so unconditionally. But Allison, I mean, she was irritable. She was emotional. She was depressed. She was like, why me? I mean, she would have moments where she would just lash out at her mom.
Starting point is 01:00:23 And her mom never once said anything. She would bathe her every day. She would dress moments where she would just lash out at her mom and her mom never once said anything. She would bathe her every day, she would dress her wounds, and she would just take care of her every single day. She said she became so depressed that she didn't even care anymore if she ate, if she showered, if she washed her hair, brushed her teeth, and this is coming from someone who was always a responsible person, always an independent person, and she loved that about herself. That's like a quality she loved about herself, and it was gone now.
Starting point is 01:00:53 And so that's when she realized, okay, I chose life in that moment that I'm laying in the sand, but that's not the only time I had to choose life. Like, I have to choose life now, because what does it matter if I chose to live in that moment if I'm not not living right now, like none of this makes sense. And so she decided to get her shit together and around the same time, she got her very first invitation from a prestigious
Starting point is 01:01:15 like membership in the nearby area in South Africa. And it's like a group of I believe like business people and they invited her to speak for them and Alison hated public speaking Okay, but but she was like holy shit South Africa really came to my side during all of this like people were there for me The citizens of South Africa were like on my team the whole time So she didn't want to disappoint them. So she said okay, and she went up there She climbed out of bed, got it together, and gave a speech. And she said she just felt so much better,
Starting point is 01:01:50 and she just kept going. And still to this day, she gives speeches. And she talks about what happened. She gives her a direction, a cause, everything. And the one thing that she always says, because everyone says that she's this extraordinary person. How did you do that? And she says, I quote, there aren't any extraordinary people
Starting point is 01:02:14 in this world, just ordinary people. But some of those ordinary people do extraordinary things with their lives. She was nominated for the Port Elizabeth Citizen of the Year Award, and she she was confused because she was like, all right, I'm looking at everyone else on the list and all of them like actively do a lot of stuff like they're actively going out being Activist and like making this town better and they straight up told her, it's not what you've done It's like the effect that you've had on South Africa like
Starting point is 01:02:41 You gave so many women so much hope that things are going to get better for women in South Africa. Like it's different. And so the second time she dealt with depression because all of this, it just pulled her out from that depressed state, was when she read in the, read in the newspaper that the men were out for parole. So this is in 2004, there was a groundbreaking case of someone who like, when it gets the Supreme Court and eventually anyone who had been sentenced to life in prison prior to like 2002 with no chance of parole they would all be granted parole like you
Starting point is 01:03:13 cannot get life in prison without parole anymore is kind of what they said so annoying so she's freaking out about that that puts her into her depressed state yeah cuz I mean these are evil people and she's freaking out about that. That puts her into her depressed state. Yeah, because I mean, these are evil people. And she's terrified. And she gets an email from a woman in America who says, my daughter's name is Sabrina. And she's Francis new fiance. So Francis wife had left after years
Starting point is 01:03:39 of him being in prison finally. And she said, I don't know what to do. Like I, woman to woman, I don't know what to do. Like, I woman to women, I don't know what to do. I said, I know this one of those like woman just obsessed with the criminal situation. I know what her deal is. And she said, I don't know what to do. Please, like, I try telling her what happened to you. I tried and I don't know what to do. And she's like, wait, that isn't even make sense. So they just like writing letters to each other and the mom in america was like no they met on facebook
Starting point is 01:04:08 what the fuck how does he have access to facebook that doesn't make sense he's in prison and so she didn't believe this lady and then the mom sent screenshots and friends told the girl Sabrina that he had people on the outside that can arrange for women in south africa to be gang raped and sodomized by, quote, his boys. A girl had accused France of killing her dad, so he was going to organize her to get raped. And he couldn't wait to get out of prison because he had a list of people to deal with. That is insane.
Starting point is 01:04:41 This is chat history. Yes, and he begged Sabrina to send him $10,000 because he can pay a prison official and get parole if he had $10,000 in cash. And don't think, gosh, he has this, right? And so she emails all of the people involved, you know, the prison officers. So she does try to email the police. So Melden, right? But he can't really do anything. so he gave her the direct contact. And so she emails them, telling him,
Starting point is 01:05:09 like, I found out about this, please don't let them know that it came from me. Don't let them know it came from Sabrina. I don't wanna put her in danger either. And I just want to know, like, how is this okay? How does he have a phone? Who did he bribe? This person needs to be fired
Starting point is 01:05:22 if their prison official is being brived, and they printed her email and gave it to France. I mean imagine if he got out on parole you just feel the monster. So in October of 2015 their time came and it was determined they will not be out on parole but they would have the chance of parole every two years Most people speculate that they'll never get it because of how high profile this case is Exactly, it doesn't really matter because I mean after what happened you're already believing the worst in the world Like you're not gonna sit there and be like yeah, no the systems got me
Starting point is 01:06:01 Who's the last person you heard the The system's going to protect me on this one. So everyone told Allison that her injuries were so bad that she would never have children, but she got married and she gave birth to two boys. And Tien, that Mr. E, the night in shining armor, he got his medical degree and he was the assisting doctor in the birth of Allison's second child. Wow.
Starting point is 01:06:29 But she says that's not the only miracle. So that day, she's been thinking about it and that day, there was a lot that happened. What day? The day of her attempted murder. Oh, okay. It wasn't just her will. It was the fact that that day was extra warm. It was an extra warm summer.
Starting point is 01:06:47 If there were any cooler in the evening, she would have died of exposure, just laying naked in the road for that long. It was also a full moon, so this area has no street lights. And the full moon is the way that she found her way back to the road while she was so out of it. Without that full moon, she doesn't know
Starting point is 01:07:02 if she could have even seen the road. She remained calm throughout the whole night. So you know how people were asking her, like, why don't you jump out when you try to fight? Well because she remained so calm, she saved all of that energy, she never fought them off, and so when it finally came time to stand up and to run to the road, she could do it because she had this energy in her. When she was strangled, she peed herself. And the doctors told her, if you did not pee herself, your bowels would have exploded. And that
Starting point is 01:07:30 would cause serious fatal infections inside of your intestines. You would die. During the 35 plus stab wounds to her abdomen and pelvic area, they missed every single vital organ in her stomach. They sliced her throat, but they missed all of her vital arteries and her voice box so she could talk, but luckily they cut through her windpipe, which allowed her to breathe. If they didn't cut through her windpipe, she probably would have died. They threw her clothes out first instead of burning it later. If she didn't have her denim shirt, she wouldn't have been able to get up. She wouldn't have been able to hold her intestines.
Starting point is 01:08:09 There was just no way. And then you have Mr. E who doesn't even live in this side of town, who lives literally in airplane flight away. He was on vacation. He went to veterinary school for a year. He had medical knowledge, but not only that, he was not panicking. He knew what to do and he wanted to keep her alive. And that day when they get to the hospital, it was a public hospital.
Starting point is 01:08:29 If it had been a private hospital, she doesn't even know if they would have doctors that could assess her injuries. And Dr. Angela, the one that she really likes, he's a throat specialist that happened to be there on call that night, a throat specialist. So this book comes out, and then they do a follow up documentary based on the book. And I read the book and I watch the documentary. It's amazing. Please read the book.
Starting point is 01:08:50 It's in my source notes and I mentioned it in the beginning of the podcast, especially because I mean, it's written by Allison, so it would be benefiting her as well. But the documentary called Allison, they friends wanted to do an interview with the documentary, friends, the convicted monster. He wanted to be a part of it? Yes, but he had a list of demands. Can you imagine? He was like, yeah, I want to be in the documentary. Here's my list of demands. Number one, a letter of forgiveness from Allison that was signed. Number two. What is, well, you're going to die. It gets worse. Profit shares from Allison's book sales and motivational speaking opportunities backdated, meaning anything she's done in following up.
Starting point is 01:09:36 What is it? What, what, what, what, I don't even know. Like, what's the audacity of this? He this is his quote. Okay. He wanted a portion of all that money because he believes What he did to Allison is the only reason for her success story I'm not the epitome of what is it like the fucking audacity I'm like I'm sweating. I'm heated up right now. I'm like so hot. Oh my god. Ten more life sentence. Yeah. For that statement, I hope something horrendous happens to him
Starting point is 01:10:14 in prison. And with that statement and with everything else, Alison and the whole world knows that the work is not over. I mean, this is just one story of a survivor. And she said after all of this, she was still shocked at how insensitive people are to rape. A guy genuinely asked her during one of these speeches afterwards, what's the big fuss? It's only sex. And she was just in shock.
Starting point is 01:10:44 One time she was at a bar with her husband and a man straight up was talking to his buddies nearby him and he said so hot I could rape her and they were giggling and she was about to explode and her husband like put his arm on her shoulder calmed her down. I mean what? And then now you have the 2021 version, which is not all men. So yeah, the work is not done. This is a very powerful story. I think more people should listen. I think this story is so powerful.
Starting point is 01:11:16 I think maybe the reason that it's not so widely talked about is it's so hard. It's like I have to stop every like two pages to just get my brain back together because I was like, this is, how is this even real? That is the story of Allison Batha. Go read our book. It's so good. I hope you guys enjoyed this week's mini-sauce. Please stay safe out there.
Starting point is 01:11:42 It is a really, really dark case, but hopefully we'll be back on Wednesday with um... well it's a pretty rotten podcast, so I'll see y'all Wednesday, bye!

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