Tourist tells of rape

“I THOUGHT I was going to die. I was not even thinking about my friend, I just thought I was going to die.”

These were the emotional words of one of two Swedish tourists allegedly raped near Eastern Beach last year.

The two women, who cannot be named due to the nature of the crime, were walking along the beach be tween the lifesaver’s shack and Bats Cave on January 10 2012 when they were accosted by two men armed with knives.

It is the state’s case that they were lured into the bushes and robbed and raped at knife-point.

Testifying in the East London High Court yesterday, one of the woman told Judge Jeremy Pickering she was wearing a bikini and a scarf around her waist on the day.

She gave a detailed account of what happened when the men accosted them.

“He put a knife on my neck and forced me to lie down on my back.

“He told me to spread my legs and tried to cut my scarf with a knife.

“He pulled off my bikini bottom and raped me,” she said in her evidence- in-chief.

State advocate Nickie Turner asked the witness what was going through her mind during the rape.

“I thought I was going to die. I was not even thinking about my friend, I just thought I was going to die,” she said.

Turner asked the emotional 21- year-old what she thought she would die of.

“I thought I was going to die of HIV or the knife that he had.

“I think they would have killed us if we resisted,” she testified.

Simphiwe Wayizi, 30, and Asenathi Bonani, 20, were arrested two days later.

Yesterday, the pair pleaded not guilty to the charges they face, which include robbery with aggravating circumstances and a count of rape each.

Their legal representative, advocate Charles Stamper, said his clients would tell the court that they were not at the scene the complainants described.

“ will tell the court he was at home in Duncan Village with his girlfriend.

“ will also say he was at home,” Stamper said.

The Swedes arrived in East London on Friday for the trial and will leaving this Friday.

During her testimony, the second of the two women also told the court graphic details of how she was raped.

It emerged in court that she had bruises on her back, on her knees, legs and there was there was redness on her genitalia.

In court, she identified Bonani as the man who had raped her while Wayizi had raped her friend.

The court heard how one of the young women had been in South Africa for about five months before the incident.

She had been living with an aunt in Cape Town.

The other woman travelled down from Uganda to join her friend in Cape Town.

They travelled together along the Garden Route to East London and had planned to stay in the city for a few days before continuing their tour of the country.

However, they were raped on the day they arrived in the city.

Following the ordeal the women contacted the owner of the back packers where they were staying.

The owner and her husband took them to hospital where kits were used to take forensic samples. Police were also contacted.

The women identified their as sailants on the Thursday and left the country the fol lowing day.

The matter resumes today. — siyab@dispatch.co.za