Anene Booysen (October 30, 1995 – February 2, 2013) was a 17-year-old girl who was found by a security guard the morning after she had been gang-raped and

disemboweled Disembowelment or evisceration is the removal of some or all of the organs of the gastrointestinal tract (the bowels, or viscera), usually through a horizontal incision made across the abdominal area. Disembowelment may result from an acciden ...

at a construction site in

Bredasdorp Bredasdorp is a town in the Southern Overberg region of the Western Cape, South Africa, and the main economic and service hub of that region. It lies on the northern edge of the Agulhas Plain, about south-east of Cape Town and north of Cape Agu ...

, in the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

on February 2, 2013; she was still alive, but died later in the day.

Rape and murder

Anene Booysen was found by a security guard lying a short distance from her house after spending time at a bar on the evening of February 2, 2013. She died from her injuries in hospital six hours later. She had managed to allegedly identify her attackers before her death. It is unknown why the police chose to ignore all but one.

Reaction

South Africa's President

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan name Msholozi, and was a former anti-aparth ...

condemned the attack as "shocking, cruel and most inhumane". The

Congress of South African Trade Unions The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is a trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions ...

(Cosatu), South Africa's biggest labour union, called for mass action over

rape in South Africa The rate of sexual violence in South Africa is among the highest recorded in the world. During 2015/16, there were 51,895 crimes of a sexual nature reported to the South African Police Service. Statistics Official police statistics South ...

. Opposition parliamentary leader

Lindiwe Mazibuko Lindiwe Mazibuko (born 9 April 1980) is a Swazi-born South African academic, former politician, musician and the former leader of the Official Opposition Democratic Alliance (DA). She was elected DA Parliamentary Leader on 27 October 2011, beat ...

called for parliamentary hearings. The United Nations in South Africa issued a statement strongly condemning the rape and murder. On 13 February, a protest, led by

Annie Lennox Ann Lennox (born 25 December 1954) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of the New wave music, new wave band the Tourists, she and fellow musician D ...

, was staged at

St. George's Cathedral, Cape Town St George's Cathedral (also referred to as The Cathedral Church of St George the Martyr) is the Anglican cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa, and the seat of the Archbishop of Cape Town. St. George's Cathedral is both the metropolitical chu ...

. Booysen and

Reeva Steenkamp Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp (; 19 August 1983 – 14 February 2013) was a South African model and paralegal. She modeled for ''FHM'' magazine and was the first face of Avon cosmetics in South Africa. Steenkamp once worked as the live roaming presen ...

, both young South African women killed in 2013, were named SA Persons of the year 2013 by the ''

Daily Maverick ''Daily Maverick'' is a South African daily online publication and weekly print newspaper, with offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Its readership is spread across South Africa and the world, with approximately 8 million readers per month. I ...

''.

Funeral

A funeral was held at the

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

in Bredasdorp, about east of

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

on February 9, 2013.

Prosecution

Johannes Kana was convicted for the crime, and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences. Two suspects were initially arrested, but only Kana, who confessed to raping Booysen, stood trial. Before she died, Booysen told police five or six men were involved in the attack.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Booysen, Anene 2013 murders in South Africa Child sexual abuse in South Africa Murder of Anene Booysen February 2013 crimes in Africa Deaths by blade weapons People murdered in South Africa Rape in South Africa Female murder victims Incidents of violence against girls Violence against women in South Africa Gang rape in Africa