A brutal attack on a 17 year old girl

Anene Booysen was ruthlessly raped and mutilated, allegedly by several men, on February 2. She was then left for dead on a building site in Bredasdorp, east of Cape Town. The following morning she was found still alive by a security guard, but died later the same day. Later two suspects was identified. Jonathan Davids, who was denied bail following a previous court appearance, and his co-accused Johannes Kana, was arrested in connection with the savage attack in February. On the 27 February, Investigating officer, Warrant Officer Edmund Abels told the Bredasdorp Magistrate’s Court that Johannes Kana, would not be applying for bail as he confessed to raping and assaulting Booysen. National Prosecuting authorities (NPA) spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila confirmed that Kana confessed to his part in the crime and that witnesses had seen him with Anene on the night of her murder.

South Africa has the highest rates of rape reported to the police anywhere in the world

On Tuesday the 21 May, the state announced that it would be dropping all charges against Jonathan Davids, one of the two Bredasdorp men accused of raping and killing Anene Booysen. The NPA said it simply didn’t have enough evidence to secure a conviction. Emotion stirred at the tragic death of Anene Booysen and on it prompted the Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande to fund a R10-million skills development project in her memory. The project has since been launched in the Western Cape. Johannes Kana’s last court appearance was at the Western Cape High Court on 7 September, where the trial was set down for four weeks. A total of 52 witnesses were expected to be called to testify.Prosecutor Maria Marshall said she had provided Kana’s lawyer Pieter du Toit with further particulars and would deliver the last statements to him. She had drafted a set of admissions for the defence to consider. Should the defence make certain admissions, the trial was likely to be shortened as fewer witnesses would have to be called.

The sentencing of 21 year old Johannes Kana, who was found guilty of raping and murdering Bredasdorp teenager, Anene Booysen, will take place in the Swellendam Circuit High Court on Wednesday. On the 30 October the court concluded that Kana and Booysen were together at the pub in Bredasdorp in the early hours of February the second. They were seen leaving the establishment together by a number of witnesses, between three and four o’clock that morning. Goliath said Kana’s earlier admission of raping Booysen, can only mean that he was also the one who mutilated her private parts, to cover up any possible deoxyribonucleic acid evidence. She said Kana’s cap found on the scene was also damning evidence against him. South Africa has the highest rates of rape reported to the police anywhere in the world. In 2012, the number of rapes documented by the police rose to over 64,000 – or 175 per day. These figures are believed to considerably underestimate the true number of rapes, as many cases go unreported. A survey released in June by the Medical Research Council of South Africa found that 28% of men surveyed had raped a woman or girl, and one in 20 said they had raped a woman or girl in the past year.

– By Sherita Meyers