A 19-year-old Hermanus woman had a harrowing experience on the Cliff Path while out walking her dog on Sunday evening when she was sexually assaulted.
According to the young woman’s mother, her daughter regularly walks her Yorkshire terrier along the path.
On this occasion, she was walking from New Harbour on the western section of the path at about 18:00. Unbeknown to her, an attacker was on the prowl.
She said for some reason a feeling of unease swept over her before the attack. She tucked her cell phone between her back and her bra strap – a place she thought wouldn’t be searched.
“Trust your instinct,” she advises readers. Moments later, near Dreunkrans, her harrowing three-minute ordeal began.
A man approached the teenager and asked for a hug. When she refused, he tried to hug her. She pulled away. He grabbed her, pushed her into the shrubs, and attempted to pull down her tights. This proved challenging for the attacker, who pulled down his trousers, pushed himself against her, and demanded oral sex.
The victim had noticed two women ahead of her. When she called for help, the attacker threatened to stab her. The women, who were some distance away, possibly did not hear the cry.
“The assault lasted only a few minutes – but it felt like hours – and I prayed throughout,” the victim shared, adding that she experienced a strange feeling of calm because somehow she felt she was going to get through the ordeal.
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When she cried out ‘in the name of Jesus’, the attacker suddenly released her.
After this shattering encounter, the young woman ran towards home. On the way, she noticed a vehicle driving into a guest house. She ran into the property before the electric gates closed, and from there was able to phone home.
Traumatised by the incident, she told her mother she would never again walk along the cliff path alone – and not at that time.
Hermanus head of detectives, Lt Col Nicky Steyn, confirmed that a case of sexual assault was opened and under investigation.
The victim and her mother, who has regularly jogged between New Harbour and Old Harbour for many years, were willing to share their experience in the hope of preventing a similar incident from happening to someone else.
“Never walk alone,” she advises. “Not in the early evening and not without pepper spray or a Taser stun gun.”
Hermanus Public Protection (HPP) Executive Officer Marcia Bown strongly suggests people should walk in groups. “Our patrol officers are on duty from 06:00 until 18:00 every day,” she says, adding that notices will be released when the times change over the festive season.
Sandbaai robbery attempt
On the same day at about 15:10, a couple, with their baby, was sitting on a bench at Uitkyk, Sandbaai, when two men accosted them and tried to rob them of their cellphones and valuables. An AfriForum VOS (Vermont, Onrus, Sandbaai) Neighbourhood Watch member driving past noticed the incident and disrupted the attempt. He raised an alarm on the SafeGrid app, alerting Tyte Security, Sandbaai Neighbourhood Watch and AfriForum VOS. The two men left on foot down the coastal path.
Teams responded immediately, and both suspects were apprehended about 20 minutes later. The victims positively identified the two men, who were handed over to SAPS.
“There was not one hero,” says Jeremy Park, head of the AfriForum VOS Neighbourhood Watch. “It was neighbours, the neighbourhood watch and Tyte Security seeing the same picture at the same moment and moving together – and SAPS arriving to take it from there.
“For years the hardest part of this work was not the criminals; it was the separate WhatsApp groups, each holding a piece of the story. Once we could see the whole picture together, Sandbaai became a very difficult place to steal from, and a much friendlier one to live in.”
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