The Alison Botha case.

Alison Botha's Case - The Strongest Woman in the World

One night in December 1994 in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, the life of a 27-year-old woman named Alison Botha took a turn forever.

That night, Alison just sent a friend home. After spending a happy evening together, while she was about to drive home, a man approached her and threatened her with a knife, before forcing her to move to the driver's side seat, and then he came up and drove instead. He took Alison to a lonely spot, before taking another man to the road.

The two men are named Frans du Toit and Theuns Kruger - both criminals who escaped the case earlier.

They took Alison to a remote area outside the city before viciously assaulting and raping her, but what happened afterwards was much more gruesome - they tried to kill her to leave no evidence.

Frans du Toit used a knife to slash Alison's throat almost and stab her in the stomach over 30 wounds before leaving her lying in the bushes, thinking she was dead.

But Alison didn't die - even though the wound was deep in the trachea, she was conscious and tried to use her hands to keep her throat from bleeding. She crawled out of the woods onto the road. Even though her body was covered with blood and wounds, she was conscious enough to cover her stomach wound with a rag and slowly crawled all the way to the main road.

Fortunately, a passing driver was seen - he was a man named Tiaan Eilerd, who rushed to call rescuers and immediately took her to hospital.

Doctors were shocked because no one believed she would survive such a serious wound, but Alison was mentally stronger than anyone expected.

Not only that, shortly after recovery, she gave evidence to the police so clearly that Frans du Toit and Theuns Kruger could be arrested. Both were sentenced to life imprisonment without the right to a reduced sentence.

After that, Alison did not escape society, and she became a "Motivational Speaker" who traveled the world telling stories of "uncompromising" and "faith in life."

She wrote a book called I Have Life, which told the story of the incident herself, the book became an inspiration to the world, and was later made into a documentary of the same name, "Alison" (2016), which received widespread praise.

Alison put in a sentence that became her immortal speech:

> "You don't know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have."

("You will never know how strong you are until strength is the only choice you have.")

---

Referral

1.Botha, A. & Scott, M. (1998). I Have Life: Alison's Journey.Penguin Random House South Africa.

2. "Alison" (Documentary Film) .Directed by Uga Carlini.South Africa: Towerkop Creations, 2016.

3.Alison Botha Official Website: https://www.alisonbotha.com

4.BBC News. (2016). Alison Botha: The woman who survived being cut and left for dead.

# Story # Famous case