A second-year Port Elizabeth university student was raped‚ beaten with a pole and left for dead in bushes near Schoenmakerskop in an incident that bears chilling similarities to the brutal kidnap‚ rape and attempted murder of Alison Botha 22 years ago.

The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) student’s two attackers had first tried to shoot her after the rape on Saturday morning‚ but their gun jammed.

They then bludgeoned her repeatedly with a steel pole.

After they fled‚ believing she was dead‚ the brutalised young woman‚ 24‚ staggered about a kilometre through the bushes and onto a gravel road before collapsing on the shoulder of Victoria Drive.

A passerby who saw her lying on the side of the road‚ covered in blood‚ alerted the police.

The vicious attack comes just two months after qualified medic and NMMU student Thabani Ngwekazi‚ 28‚ was killed and his 21-year-old friend raped when they were hijacked outside the Varsity Park student residences in North End.

The student attacked this weekend‚ who cannot be named because of the nature of the offence‚ was abducted after a night of partying at Cafe Loxion in Parliament Street‚ Central‚ and at the flat of an acquaintance.

On Sunday‚ police combed the area along Victoria Drive before finding the crime scene in the restricted municipal Driftsands Natural Area‚ which borders Schoenmakerskop.

Detectives from the specialist family violence‚ child protection and sexual offences unit have taken over the case.

They still have to consult with the woman‚ who had been treated in hospital but is now staying at a relative’s house in Port Elizabeth.

Police spokeswoman Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg said the student had been at the club for most of the night‚ reports The Herald