Its just shocking, horrifying , sad !!!!!!! What is this world ? does the person in her silver innings needs this form of abuse , STOP ELDER ABUSE.
Read this horrific ordeal:
“IT was every South African woman’s nightmare,” a shaken, yet defiant, Nelson Mandela Bay grandmother said this week, describing an horrific ordeal during which she was raped and brutalised in her retirement cottage.
In an exclusive interview with Weekend Post, the brave, still badly bruised 84-year-old who survived the terrifying rape and assault only to have to wait in fear after an apprehended suspect escaped from police custody, told of the full horror of the attack saying she needed to talk about it because she did not want to be scared and bitter over what happened to her.
The still disorientated and shaken grandmother, who has made a resolute effort to shake off the “awful” events of the early hours of Friday, October 30, said she wanted to set the record straight, commend the police on their tireless work and thank her family, Life St George’s hospital and the community for their care and support.
“I’m not hiding anything that happened because it will only make me bitter and frightened. I don’t want to hold that inside me,” said the feisty octogenarian.
“I’m talking about how I feel because there is no use in keeping it inside. Each time I talk about (the rape and assault), it becomes a bit easier.”
Sitting in the lounge of her cosy one-bedroomed cottage near Walmer Park Shopping Centre, the former Uitenhage Hospital casualty nurse spoke candidly about the wounds – emotional and physical – her alleged attacker, Frankie Louwskieter, inflicted on her the night of the barbaric attack, the same day as her granddaughter’s birthday.
“This is every South African woman’s nightmare.
“There is no explanation for why he had to rape me,” she said, her head bruised, with purple clots running down her neck, and with other parts of her body still bearing the painful reminder of when crime – South African-style – came visiting.
Asked to recount her emotions on the night of the attack, she said she really thought she was going to die.
“When I came to my senses (about what was happening), I just said to myself, I’m going to do everything he tells me to do. I just shut off and went into survival mode.”
She said the suspect never spoke, but just “communicated by waving his knife”.
The assailant, who gained access to the woman’s home through a window by forcing open the burglar bars, bound and gagged her before stabbing her in the leg. She said he then raped and sodomised her, before locking her in her bedroom, returning a short while later to steal the watch from her wrist.
“It’s a travesty that one person’s evil actions can destroy faith in humanity and it’s sad that it takes something like this to bring people together.”
The mother of three, who has declined to be named, said she was at a loss when it came to the level of violence ingrained in the South African psyche.
She said although she could understand the need to steal to survive, she could not comprehend the level of anger that came with it.
“Why do you need to de-humanise another human being?” she asked. “What does a (alleged) 27-year-old criminal want to do by raping an old woman?”
While asking herself these “unanswerable” questions and dealing with post-traumatic fears, she is set on rebuilding her life. She said thanks to the support of her “absolutely exceptional” family, she felt this was possible.
The victim’s family, including her prominent state advocate grandson-in-law, has been around her 24 hours a day as she first dealt with returning home to the scene of the crime at Winston Churchill Moth Cottages complex, identifying stolen items at the police station and undergoing counselling.
She said she could not yet bring herself to sleep in her bedroom, but that her daughter who lives in the Bay was staying with her.
The victim said after her assailant had left her cottage, she couldn’t find her cellphone which he had taken, and when she got to her land-line she couldn’t remember any numbers. “If there’s one piece of advice I can give, it’s how important it is to remember just one number. The age of cellphones makes us forget how important it is to know people’s numbers.”
After that, adrenalin shot through her and she managed to drag herself outside and alert her neighbours.
Her greatest fear at that moment was that he was coming back to kill her, “finished and klaar”. Now her fear is seeing the suspect again. “I just don’t want to face him.”
Her main priority, apart from recovering and moving past the rape and attack, was making sure the police were commended.
“I don’t think I have the words to say how thankful I am to the police. I don’t want one mistake to blemish their work,” she said, referring to the arrest, escape and recapture of Louwskieter last week.
“One mistake can’t detract from the excellent work the police have done.”
She said Captain Elroy Lindoor and Inspectors Rudolph Baxter and Kelvin Swartbooi all gave up hours of their time – not even returning home to their families – to do forensics, follow leads and track down the suspect.
Even after her horrific ordeal, the victim is more deeply concerned about other victims of South Africa’s “endemic” rape situation.
“I am an old woman who has had a good life, a fabulous husband, fantastic children and grandchildren. I look in the paper and see young people who have been raped and my heart breaks for them because they have their whole lives ahead of them to deal with that.”
Her son, who flew from Australia to be at his mother’s side, was supportive of his mother and in awe of her strength. “She underestimates her resilience,” he said.
The body corporate of Moth cottages has said it will upgrade its security.
Louwskieter, who was refused bail when he appeared in court a week ago on charges of rape, robbery and housebreaking with intent to rob, will appear in court again on Monday.
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