‘I hope something positive has come out of this horror’: Angus gran’s brutal death inspires self-defence drive

The brutal death of a former Monifieth grandmother has inspired a self-defence drive in South Africa.

Pressure group SA Women Fight Back has launched a campaign to cut violent crime in the country after highlighting the murder of 74-year-old Sandra Malcolm.

Mrs Malcolm was hacked to death as she tried to treat housebreaker Sheree Prince who had broken into her Cape Town home in April 2015.

The group is now offering self-defence classes to women and children to “change the statistics” and “to make South Africa a safe land for females to live in”.

Nicole Mirkin, the founder of Fight Back SA, said the group is providing free self-defence classes to teach women and children to disarm and immobilise an attacker.

She said: “We have no alternative in South Africa.

“We have a society with an entrenched rape culture, with no government resources to ensure women and children are safe.

“Our team works tirelessly each day to ensure young women are able to take their safety into their own hands.

“We believe that by teaching a woman how to stop an attack from progressing, we can stop another murder, rape, and physical assault from taking place.

“We are not waiting for the police or the government to step up. We are taking action right now, to change the statistics right now.”

She said the idea behind the workshops is to provide combat style self-defence skills.

Mrs Malcolm was murdered after taking pity on Prince, who had injured her foot, and rather than call the police, gave her tea and toast and treated her wounds.

When she suggested calling an ambulance, Prince snapped and stabbed Mrs Malcolm 24 times in the throat, lungs, heart and other vital organs.

Prince, who was a heavy crystal methamphetamine user, dubbed The Lakeside Butcher, then beheaded and dismembered Mrs Malcolm using an axe before dumping her body parts in a wheelie bin.

Mrs Malcolm’s body was discovered by her grandson, Scott Malcolm.

Prince was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 2018 and will have to serve 25 years before she can apply for parole.

Mrs Malcolm and husband Allan, originally from Dundee, emigrated to South Africa when her two daughters Alison and Susan were teenagers in 1981.