‘He said he wanted vagina’: Runner tells of brutal attack

In yet another case of assault on joggers, a Mpumalanga woman has shared a horrifying story of a brutal attack by man who wanted to rape her.

The woman, who cannot be named for safety reasons, told Lowvelder she put on a fight for at least 40 minutes against a man who repeatedly tried to rape her, as he told her she would not live to see another day.

The woman was attacked along the road between Mataffin and Sabie/Lydenberg, at around 05:45 on Wednesday morning, April 28.

She said she was dragged from behind by the man and dragged off the road and pulled by her neck for about 800 metres to the river.

“This had nothing to do with common crime. The intent from the start was to rape and harm me. When I asked the man what he wanted, he just repeated, ‘Vagina.’ I was beyond terrified.

“He tried for what felt like a very long time, and I lay silent as I was petrified that he would kill me. I pulled all of the muscles in my lower body tightly together and he was unable to penetrate me.”

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She spent five days in ICU recovering from the brutal attack.

According to police spokesperson Donald Mdhluli, Mpumalanga police arrested 655 suspects for different offences including murder, assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm, kidnapping and rape between 19 and 25 April.

Last Thursday, serial rapist Philip Mathonsi was handed a hefty sentence by the Boschfontein Regional Court for crimes committed between 2016 and 2017.

The court heard how the residents of Marlothpark near Komatipoort, especially women, lived in fear for quite a while as Mathonsi targeted them where he robbed and raped them. Mathonsi would normally wait until it was dark before preying on his victims.

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According to Brigadier Leonard Hlathi, he was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on the first rape count; 10 years for robbery, five years for another rape and another ten years for the third rape and five years for robbery.

He was also handed an additional 1o years for housebreaking and two years’ imprisonment for attempted rape.

Compiled by Vhahangwele Nemakonde