GEORGE NEWS - A friendly greeting turned into a horror story after a young woman (22) out on a walk to the Garden Route Dam on Sunday 16 August was attacked.
She was walking back to her vehicle at about 18:20 when a man suddenly ran towards her from behind and attacked her.
"He saw my phone and my car keys. He didn't even go for them. He wanted me. That's what scares me," she said.
The woman, who has asked to remain anonymous, had parked her vehicle outside the boom gates and walked along the road to the dam. She noticed the man walking in the other direction. He smiled and greeted her. He even moved out of the way to allow her to pass.
Despite this, she says she immediately had a feeling that something was wrong, but thought she was being paranoid, because the man seemed genuinely friendly.
She spent about half an hour at the dam before returning to her car.
On her way back, she saw the man near the ablution facility. This time he had a bicycle with him. "I wanted to greet him, but he turned his face away and pretended he didn't see me. That was weird. I also found it strange that he now had a bike with him," she said.
Roughly halfway back to her vehicle, the man cycled past her in the direction of the boom gates.
She sent a voice note to her mother, telling her that she was on her way back and mentioning the "dodgy guy". Her mother, however, didn't have her phone with her and only got the message much later.
Two joggers passed her as it was getting darker. She says she tried to keep up with them, but not being a runner, she was left to power-walk. "After a while, I could no longer see them, but could see the security hut in the distance, about 20 or 30m away. I thought I was safe."
Then she heard someone from behind running towards her at full tilt. "I didn't turn around. I thought I was just being paranoid and that it was another jogger. But the running became more intense." When she eventually looked back, she realised it was the same man.
"I tried to move out of his way, but he didn't go past me. He grabbed me around my neck."
According to the woman, the attacker kicked her legs in an attempt to get her on the ground, but she immediately started "screaming like never before".
"I didn't realise I could scream that hard. It frightened him, and he ran away. I ran towards the gate and kept on screaming for help. When I grabbed hold of the guard, I just collapsed and sobbed."
The security guard and the joggers assisted the traumatised young woman, who subsequently reported the incident to the police.
She puts him at about 24 years old and 1.75m tall, with a fairly slim but muscular build, curly hair in a taper fade and dark brown eyes and a small nose. He was wearing sneakers, black tracksuit pants and a short-sleeved button-up shirt with a colourful pattern featuring white, black, red and green.
The trails around the dam are popular with cyclists. 
The path to the right of the main gravel road is frequently used by hikers, runners and cyclists. ‘We bring you the latest Garden Route, Hessequa, Karoo news’
