The Woman Who Lived! (Alison Botha) — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00welcome welcome to the JMC True Crime
2. 0:03Channel thank you so much for joining me
3. 0:06today's case will leave you feeling both
4. 0:09horrified and Amazed by just how far one
5. 0:14can and will go to survive
6. 0:17this is the story of Alison Botha so
7. 0:21strap in and let's get stuck in
8. 0:26[Music]
9. 0:30thank you so let's go back to 1994 to
10. 0:36Port Elizabeth South Africa the very
11. 0:38place where Allison was both born and
12. 0:40raised
13. 0:41Alison was only 27 years old at this
14. 0:44time and this was the post-apartheid era
15. 0:47and just in case anyone doesn't know
16. 0:49apartheid was a time where racism was
17. 0:52legal it was institutionalized this goes
18. 0:56back to 1940s and ended in the early
19. 1:001990s so it's quite possible that you
20. 1:03might know someone that lived through
21. 1:05apartheid
22. 1:06Port Elizabeth now known as kyberja has
23. 1:10many names
24. 1:12friendly City
25. 1:13Algoa Bay
26. 1:15and Nelson Mandela Bay
27. 1:18it is one of the largest cities in South
28. 1:21Africa and the cultural and economic
29. 1:24center of the Eastern Cape
30. 1:28on the night of the 18th of December
31. 1:311994 Alison had been enjoying her
32. 1:34evening relaxing with her co-workers
33. 1:36having fun you know doing what 20
34. 1:38somethings do
35. 1:39around 1am Alison was returning home
36. 1:43having just dropped off a co-worker
37. 1:45however she wasn't able to find a
38. 1:47parking spot where she would usually
39. 1:49park her car
40. 1:50this meant that she had to park a little
41. 1:52further afield not too far because the
42. 1:55spot was still within walking distance
43. 1:57of her home
44. 1:59so Alison Parks her car into this
45. 2:01aforementioned parking space and when
46. 2:04she tries to exit her car so she can
47. 2:06walk to her home a man appears a man
48. 2:10holding a knife
49. 2:12this man's name was Franz dutoir
50. 2:16and Franz dutoir was a hideous man
51. 2:20upon threatening Alison with the knife
52. 2:23detour told her to get into the back
53. 2:25seat and that he wouldn't hurt her
54. 2:28do as I say
55. 2:30and you'll be fine
56. 2:32do as I say and nothing bad will happen
57. 2:36that's what he said to her to reassure
58. 2:38her to placate her whatever you want to
59. 2:41call it
60. 2:42and Alison terrified alone isolated
61. 2:48she wanted to live
62. 2:50she wanted to live
63. 2:52and to do that meant doing what he said
64. 2:55and so Alison complied
65. 3:00now the next part of Alison's story that
66. 3:02we are going to cover is horrific
67. 3:06it's gruesome it's nauseating and most
68. 3:10certainly not for the faint of heart so
69. 3:14please do bear that in mind if you are
70. 3:15going to continue to listen
71. 3:18the word miracle is often associated
72. 3:21with Alison's story and rightfully so in
73. 3:24my opinion
74. 3:26because what happens next
75. 3:29is almost indescribable
76. 3:33so we're back to that fateful night of
77. 3:36the 18th of December 1994 Alison has
78. 3:39just been threatened by this man Franz
79. 3:42dutois with a knife he has forced
80. 3:44himself into her car and abducted her
81. 3:47he's driving her car she doesn't know
82. 3:50where they're going she's just terrified
83. 3:54is telling Alison that he just needs to
84. 3:58borrow her car for a while
85. 4:01dutois drives Alison's car to another
86. 4:04area in kyberja formerly known as Port
87. 4:08Elizabeth to pick up his accomplice
88. 4:11Thorns Kruger
89. 4:14it wasn't long until they drove to a
90. 4:16secluded part of the city
91. 4:18and then the two men
92. 4:20told Alison of their intention to have
93. 4:24sex with her
94. 4:25their intention to rape her
95. 4:28per her own admission Alison decided not
96. 4:31to resist
97. 4:32she believed that cooperating with the
98. 4:35two men would be the very thing to save
99. 4:37her life
100. 4:39it is absolutely abhorrent
101. 4:42that she even had to think this way
102. 4:46after they were done with that
103. 4:48particular Act
104. 4:50they decided to silence her
105. 4:53permanently
106. 4:55they attempted to suffocate her but that
107. 4:58failed
108. 4:59frustrated Alison's attackers stabbed
109. 5:03her 37 times in the abdomen
110. 5:0737 times
111. 5:10and that likely would have been it they
112. 5:12would have believed that she was dead at
113. 5:15that point except they saw her leg
114. 5:17twitch
115. 5:19once again the pair were frustrated
116. 5:22and in a final attempt to end Alison's
117. 5:25life they stabbed her in the neck 17
118. 5:29times
119. 5:31no one can survive that
120. 5:34that's what one of them said
121. 5:36famous last words I guess
122. 5:39miraculously Alison was still alive and
123. 5:42conscious despite the trauma she had
124. 5:46just experienced
125. 5:48when the two men had stabbed Alison in
126. 5:50her abdomen 37 times they had
127. 5:54disemboweled her
128. 5:56to disembowel someone means that you
129. 5:59have removed some or all of their
130. 6:02internal organs
131. 6:03that's what all those slashes were doing
132. 6:06to Alison
133. 6:08and when they stabbed her in the neck 17
134. 6:11times
135. 6:12they had done so so viciously that they
136. 6:16had almost severed her head from her
137. 6:18body
138. 6:19that's right they had almost decapitated
139. 6:22her
140. 6:24and yet she was still breathing
141. 6:26later Alison would say and I quote
142. 6:30I realized my life was too valuable to
143. 6:34let go of
144. 6:35and that gave me the courage to survive
145. 6:39and survive she did
146. 6:42Alison initially believing that she
147. 6:44wouldn't survive wanted to leave a clue
148. 6:47about who had done this to her so she
149. 6:49wrote the names of her attackers in the
150. 6:51dirt
151. 6:52and so innocently she wrote that she
152. 6:55loved her mum
153. 6:57soon she realized that she may still
154. 7:00have a chance to survive
155. 7:02haven't been deserted by the side of the
156. 7:04road
157. 7:05Alison could see some headlights
158. 7:07streaking through the bushes
159. 7:09and she knew this was her chance as she
160. 7:13moved towards the headlights the true
161. 7:15extent of her injuries quickly dawned on
162. 7:19her
163. 7:20when she pulled herself up her head
164. 7:22started to fall backward
165. 7:25and that
166. 7:26is when she realized that she had almost
167. 7:30been decapitated
168. 7:32additionally she started to feel
169. 7:35something slimy protruding from her
170. 7:38abdomen
171. 7:39what that was were her intestines
172. 7:44so I mean this literally
173. 7:48she had to use one hand to hold on to
174. 7:51her own head
175. 7:53and the other
176. 7:55to keep her organs from spilling out
177. 7:59can you even imagine
178. 8:02can you even imagine
179. 8:04Alison struggled to see
180. 8:06she fell down many times and thankfully
181. 8:09she got back up and she reached the road
182. 8:13she didn't have to wait very long to
183. 8:15catch the attention of a motorist there
184. 8:18was a Veterinary student named Tian
185. 8:20elard who was visiting Port Elizabeth
186. 8:23again also known as kyberja on vacation
187. 8:27and they saw Alison lying in the middle
188. 8:31of the road
189. 8:32Tian used his Veterinary training to
190. 8:36tuck Allison's exposed thyroid back into
191. 8:40her neck
192. 8:41the thyroid gland is a butterfly-shaped
193. 8:44organ located in the base of your neck
194. 8:46and it releases hormones that control
195. 8:49metabolism and regulates vital bodily
196. 8:52functions
197. 8:53so as you can imagine to see her thyroid
198. 8:56exposed outside of her body was
199. 8:59extremely alarming
200. 9:02not to mention the plethora of visible
201. 9:06examples of trauma that she had so
202. 9:09clearly just sustained
203. 9:12Tian urgently called for emergency
204. 9:14services and Alison was rushed to the
205. 9:17hospital
206. 9:19Alison was so clearly on the precipice
207. 9:21of death
208. 9:23but
209. 9:24she pulled through
210. 9:26she survived
211. 9:28and before long she was able to identify
212. 9:32her attackers from police pictures
213. 9:35they were quickly arrested and named the
214. 9:38Ripper rapists by the Press
215. 9:41and you know the reason why Alison
216. 9:43survived
217. 9:44it's because none of the 54
218. 9:48stab wounds hit the main artery
219. 9:52that is astounding
220. 9:55and because they didn't hit a main
221. 9:57artery she didn't bleed to death
222. 10:00she was able to keep breathing through
223. 10:02her trachea
224. 10:04the nordhuric Ripper trial the trial of
225. 10:08dutois and Kruger Alison's attackers
226. 10:11captured so much attention that it is
227. 10:15now known as one of the most
228. 10:17high-profile cases in South African
229. 10:20history
230. 10:21both dutoir and Kruger pled guilty to
231. 10:25eight charges those charges included
232. 10:27kidnapping rape and attempted murder
233. 10:30they were found guilty and sentenced to
234. 10:33life in prison in August of 1995.
235. 10:38this may have meant the end of the legal
236. 10:42case but this certainly wasn't the end
237. 10:44of Alison's suffering
238. 10:46she had physical emotional and mental
239. 10:50scars from what she had endured
240. 10:52and for Alison her journey to recovery
241. 10:56was to speak about her experience
242. 11:00she traveled all around the world
243. 11:02telling her story in at least 35
244. 11:05countries she's become an inspiration
245. 11:09she's even inspired other survivors to
246. 11:11come forward and to tell their stories
247. 11:13as well
248. 11:15in 1995 she won the prestigious rotarian
249. 11:18Paul Harris award for courage beyond the
250. 11:22norm
251. 11:22and I think that is so perfectly apt
252. 11:26during her attack detoir had
253. 11:29specifically mentioned that he wanted to
254. 11:32destroy her reproductive organs
255. 11:35that's why he stabbed her so many times
256. 11:37in the abdomen
257. 11:39and when the doctor assessed her
258. 11:41injuries They concluded that she would
259. 11:44never be able to conceive a child
260. 11:46and yet in 2003 another miracle took
261. 11:50place when Alison gave birth to her
262. 11:53first
263. 11:54her son
264. 11:55and in 2006 her second son
265. 12:00Alison welcomed her two boys with her
266. 12:03now husband Tierney Botha whom she
267. 12:06reconnected with one year after her
268. 12:09attack
269. 12:12so
270. 12:13Alison botha's story is certainly one of
271. 12:17survival
272. 12:18but make no mistake that's not all she
273. 12:21is
274. 12:22once an insurance broker but now a
275. 12:25motivational speaker
276. 12:27a wife a mother an incredible woman
277. 12:31she has lived through and overcome so
278. 12:34much
279. 12:34and is now trying to help others to do
280. 12:37the same
281. 12:39what happened to Alison is a reminder of
282. 12:41two things
283. 12:43moral turpitude
284. 12:46and the strength of the human spirit
285. 12:51thank you to each and every single one
286. 12:53of you that has stuck around to this
287. 12:55point in the video it is always
288. 12:57appreciated
289. 12:59if you have any story suggestions make
290. 13:01sure you're leaving them in the comments
291. 13:03and don't forget to like share comment
292. 13:06and subscribe hit that subscribe button
293. 13:10and with that said I will catch you soon