A severe attack on a 25-year-old by a man whose advances she rejected has resulted in a surgical removal of one of her eyes which was badly damaged.
Zizipho Nikita Kalubi, a South African woman was reportedly moving with her boyfriend on Saturday, August 26 when her admirer met them and started making catcalls at her.
According to the victim, from Somerset West in Cape Town, she was returning from running errands with her boyfriend at about 2 p.m. when the incident happened.
The attacker who the victim had met a few times in Khayelitsha Town Two reportedly harassed her before hitting her with a brick in the face.
Recounting her ordeal to journalists on September 1, Kalubi is quoted to have said: “As a young woman, I’m not a stranger to how men can harass you, so when he started saying ‘Hey s3xy, I want you’, making his crude remarks, I ignored it and continued to walk with my boyfriend.
“He once tried to touch me, but I never thought he would be so bold with my boyfriend next to me. However, that day he only got worse and even walked up to us.
“Seeing how bad it was getting, my boyfriend asked him to leave me alone, and I thought he would stop so we continued walking. We’d been walking for just a few metres when he suddenly appeared in front of us again, and this time I couldn’t ignore that he was right there, because before I knew it, he slammed a brick into my face so hard that I fell back and lost consciousness.”
She went further to recall that she only woke up later to realise that she was on admission at Khayelitsha Hospital before being transferred to Tygerberg Hospital for further treatment.
“At Tygerberg, they told me that my left eye was severely damaged, that it was so bad it would have to be removed. They also told me my nose was fractured.
“My mom, whom I had called at some point during the ordeal, thought we should get a second opinion. She took me to Vergelegen Hospital here in Somerset, only to be told the same thing, my left eye needed to be removed,” Kalubi added.
She had her left eye removed in surgery on Tuesday, August 28 and is currently awaiting the healing of her injuries before the hospital implants a prosthetic eye.
Pulse