The woman, who cannot be named in terms of the SA press code of conduct as a rape victim, told of how the attack had changed her life.
"The shame and embarrassment of looking at my neighbours was too much, it was as if I was losing my mind and I would run away if I saw a person walking towards me," she said.
"I couldn’t sleep at night and every time I closed my eyes the memories of that night would flash back to me," she added in her statement.
She said that her rape had pushed her into the doldrums of depression and she had lost the will to live.
"I just wanted to die. The embarrassment of facing my boyfriend and the shame of knowing what I had gone through in front of him … I thought it would be best to just end the relationship instead of dealing with the shame," she said.
Ngobeni is expected to be sentenced on Wednesday.
KZN serial rapist's victim lives with fear and shame - six years on
For one victim of serial rapist Amos Ngobeni — who was violated in front of her helpless boyfriend six years ago — the fear and shame of her ordeal linger on.
"I was afraid to even go out of the house, especially at night. I would have to make sure that all the doors were locked all the time," the woman from Inanda, KwaZulu-Natal, said in a victim impact statement before the Durban High Court on Tuesday.
On Monday, Ngobeni was convicted on 19 counts of rape. One of his victims was just seven years old.
Judge Shyam Gyanda found that Ngobeni’s assertion that his victims were prostitutes and their rape had been consensual recompense for a failure to pay a R100 protection fee rang hollow.
Now, with the court dealing with his sentencing proceedings, his victims have found a voice.
The woman, who cannot be named in terms of the SA press code of conduct as a rape victim, told of how the attack had changed her life.
"The shame and embarrassment of looking at my neighbours was too much, it was as if I was losing my mind and I would run away if I saw a person walking towards me," she said.
"I couldn’t sleep at night and every time I closed my eyes the memories of that night would flash back to me," she added in her statement.
She said that her rape had pushed her into the doldrums of depression and she had lost the will to live.
"I just wanted to die. The embarrassment of facing my boyfriend and the shame of knowing what I had gone through in front of him … I thought it would be best to just end the relationship instead of dealing with the shame," she said.
Ngobeni is expected to be sentenced on Wednesday.