Durban - A woman, who was critically injured when she was nearly disembowelled in a bloody knife attack, allegedly had been abused for weeks.

A co-worker, Mark Govender, said that the woman was an “excellent worker” who did her job diligently and was quiet and reserved.

She remained in a critical condition under police guard in a Durban hospital, and has not yet been named.

Speaking to News24, Govender said that the woman had often arrived at work with injuries.

“She often arrived at the bakery with a black eye and before she even came here with marks from being sjambokked,” he said.

Govender added that last week, when the woman was attacked, she had been walking from work to a nearby tuck shop when she was followed by man believed to be her boyfriend.

“I think he was waiting outside on the pavement and then when she went out he followed her and started poking [stabbing] her.

“I didn’t see what happened; I just heard that one of our employees had been stabbed. By the time I got to the scene the police were already there. She wasn’t saying a word; she just stared at us because I think she was in so much pain.”

Govender said the woman’s intestines were “hanging out” and that “she was holding herself”.

The man who attacked her remained at large. 

Source: News24