Don’t deny us sanctuary, white South African farmers tell Dutton

A South African woman questions why Australia has rejected her traumatised family’s visas.

South African farming couple Nicky and her husband Heine.

A South African woman raped and shot in front of her three children in a farm attack last year has questioned why Australia has rejected humanitarian visas for her traumatised family and other white farmers.

Speaking after a judge jailed her attacker for life over the “unspeakable” crimes, Nicky, who did not want her surname published, said her bid to live in Australia was rejected about a month ago.

The 45-year-old businesswoman from Eastern Cape province said many farmers were given hope last year when Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said he was considering a special refugee intake of persecuted South Africans.

“It was a glimmer of hope, but it’s concerning that nothing has ever come of it,” she told The Australian yesterday.

“I speak for thousands of South African farmers: we need a lifeline. The violence here is escalating.”

Earlier this month, Sebenzile Simane, 32, was convicted of 17 charges including rape, attempted murder, attempted rape and compelling a child to witness a sexual act, over the four-hour ordeal at the family’s isolated farmhouse.

Simane pleaded not guilty and claimed DNA evidence linking him to the scenes was fabricated.

He was given two life sentences and a total of 173 years in prison.

Nicky said she was “very relieved” that the ordeal of the trial was over. She said she and her three children, 10, 14 and 16, could never return to the farm due to trauma and were living about an hour away in Port Elizabeth. Her husband, Heine, 44, continues to live and work at the farm, where he is “barricaded and armed 24 hours a day”. The family plans to make another application to move to Australia.

“We would move to Australia in a heartbeat,” she said.

She cited recent data by rights group AfriForum that showed there had been 203 farm attacks, including 23 murders, in South ­Africa already this year.

Mr Dutton did not respond to requests for comment.

In an interview with The Australian last year, Nicky described how she was at home with her children one evening when a man shot his way into their house.

“He went for the oldest one first to get any resistance out of the way; he shot three shots at his head, missing him by less than 2cm,” she said. “I tried to lock us into my bedroom, he ran from window to window shooting. I pushed the kids into my bedroom and he shot me.”

With a bullet wound to her hip, Nicky used her body to try to block the door.

“I did a lot of begging. I’ve got a 13-year-old daughter — thank God he didn’t rape her. At the time, you don’t care what happens to you, you just want your kids to live. He kept pointing the gun at my eldest and wanting to shoot him in his feet. He wanted money. I begged and persuaded him to not rape me in front of the children.”

Nicky drove her attacker 15 minutes to a bank and waited while he withdrew cash.

“It was four hours after I had been shot. I said, please, please let me go. For a split second he agreed with me and he let me go.’’