Alison Botha attackers deemed 'significant long-term risk to females'. Why then were they granted bail?

CapeTalk's John Maytham interviews Karyn Maughan, a legal journalist at News24.

Listen below:

In 1994, Frans du Toit and Theuns Kruger abducted, raped, and stabbed Alison Botha over 30 times, leaving her for dead on the side of the road.

Du Toit and Kruger were released in July 2023, despite Botha not being consulted and their background as high-risk offenders being overlooked.

In her News24 piece, Maughan reveals the harrowing reality she uncovered after gaining access to the prison records of serial rapist Du Toit.

She highlights a detailed investigation report by a correctional services clinical psychologist, which concluded that du Toit 'potentially remains a significant long-term risk to female members of our society with similar characteristics to the victims of this case'.

Du Toit told a prison psychologist that he would have continued raping and murdering women if not arrested and also admitted to raping multiple women since age 15, targeting victims unlikely to report him.

Maughan shares that he justified the attack by claiming that Botha's survival raised awareness about rape and regarded himself as a 'king' within the 28s prison gang.

With all of this information, Maughan asks the question on everyone's minds: How were they granted parole in the first place?

"I can't for one minute fathom how anyone would've thought that granting parole to people who are serial offenders, in the line of serial rapists, would be a good idea."

- Karyn Maughan, Legal journalist – News24

Maughan explains that the decision to grant parole was based on the men's claimed progress, including their therapy sessions and Du Toit's conversion to Christianity, which was seen as evidence of his reform.

However, she points out that the records showed no evidence of genuine remorse for the horrific actions he and Kruger inflicted on Alison Botha.

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.