‘I did not die, but after I was raped something in me died’

● A 91-year-old KwaZulu-Natal woman wants to know the identity of her rapist before she dies.

But her hopes are dwindling — she has waited for nearly a year for comparative DNA results to determine if the man suspected of raping her is the culprit.

The woman, pictured, was attacked in August last year as she slept at her home on the south coast with her eight-year-old great-granddaughter. She told the Sunday Times she fought for her life but feels that she lost it anyway because since the ordeal she has no will to live.

“My soul will not rest in peace until I know who did this. The police are taking too long with the investigation, it seems like they see no urgency.

“I did not die, I fought and I screamed for the neighbours and they came after I was raped, but something in me died. I have never been the same again,” she said.

The assault occurred at night when her daughter was at a church vigil.

“I heard voices outside, then the door was kicked in, someone came inside and straight at me. I was injured, my collarbone was broken, I had scratches and bruises,” she recalled, sobbing.

Her great-granddaughter hid under a couch.

Her piercing screams in the quiet village near Harding woke neighbours, but “by the time the community got here the man had run away”.

Her daughter told the Sunday Times she received a call at church and rushed home.

“We rushed her to the hospital where police took statements and a doctor examined her. That was last year August and we are still waiting for the police to make an arrest,” she said.

Her mother is still struggling to recover. “Last Saturday in the middle of the night she ran to the neighbours claiming someone was attacking her … In her mind, since there has been no arrest, this person will come and rape her again,” she said.

The daughter said whenever the family ask for updates, they are told of a backlog because of the lockdown, but the lockdown started five months after the DNA was sent for testing.

Minister of police Bheki Cele said after receiving details of the delays, the matter had been escalated to the national head of the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Investigations unit which will be fast-tracking the process to ensure that the DNA sample report is ready in the coming weeks.