I CAN BREATHE AGAIN'

After months of legal hell, two aneurysms and brain surgery, Alison Botha is relieved that her attackers are back behind bars and she can focus on getting better

- PIETER VAN ZYL

I'M SO relieved. I can breathe again." This is the message Alison Botha sends us via her lawyer - her chosen method of communication with the outside world after an aneurysm and two brain surgeries made talking on the phone tiring and difficult.

Yet the voice message says it all she received the best news she could hope for recently when the two men who attacked her and left her for dead in 1994 were sent back to jail.

It's the boost she needs as she continues her recovery - and in another message to us she says she wants people to know she's grateful for all the love and support she's received over the past few months.

"I'm focusing on my health, on my rehabilitation and recovery," she says.

"I want to get better as soon as possible so I can start giving talks again." "I still want to make a difference."

For the millions who know her story, it's vintage Alison: strong and resolute, focusing on the positive.

But the 56-year-old mom of two has been through hell over the past two years. Her attackers, Frans du Toit and Theuns Kruger, were released on parole in January 2023 without any input from Alison.

Her lawyer, Tania Koen, says Alison was terrified.

"The shock was enormous. She fell into a dark pit. There's still a lot of unresolved trauma and she'd found a semblance of peace in knowing her attackers were in prison.

"Then she hears they're coming out and she feared for herself and the safety of other women, Tania says.

As soon as the parole news broke Tania, aided by Alison, started fighting to have the decision reversed.

"I wrote to the justice department and the national commissioner of correctional services. They said we had to file a court application, so we did that in January 2024."

The court documents included reports of what happened to Alison 30 years earlier and reading them was hard, Tania says.