'God told me I'd be raped'
2010-02-11 09:29
Pretoria – The wife of gospel singer Louis Brittz, who was raped by a robber on Monday night, has told how the Lord had warned her that she was to be raped.
A up beat Hettie Brittz told how the Lord had not left her alone and how she had felt her soul and spirit had been undamaged by the experience.
Despite her nightmare experience, which came after armed robbers overpowered her family in their home in a security complex in Centurion, she was still planning to swim the Midmar Mile this coming weekend.
She said she had been looking forward to it for a year and would not allow this incident to take away her enjoyment of life.
Robbery
Her husband was still working when the robbers stormed into their house on Monday evening. They took him to the bedroom where Hettie was already in bed.
In the room, Louis told her "in the name of Jesus" (and in English so that the robbers would understand), that the men would take their things but not hurt them.
They were forced to lie on the floor where Louis told Hettie that if this was the end, they would see each other again in heaven.
Later the robbers took him away. One stayed with Hettie where she lay with her hands tied, half under the bed.
She said while she was lying like this, she heard the Lord tell her: "Hettie, you are my bride".
She answered: "Yes, Jesus, I know."
She said the Lord then told her that the man would rape her but not hurt her. The rapist was also not violent.
Antiretroviral treatment
But the examination that she had to undergo in hospital afterwards was bad. She had to drink medication that made her very nauseous. She was also given anti-retroviral treatment to fight HIV infection.
But for her, these were "battle scars in a war which we can't lose".
Louis too saw the event as an attack in a spiritual war.
The Lord existed outside of time and space, said Hettie. What had happened to her now was relevant 2 000 years ago when Jesus died on the cross for the rapist too.
It will also be relevant in ten years' time when they bear witness to all that has followed the attack.
She said this didn't mean the rape was unimportant. It was also not unimportant to the Lord. He said after all that he collected people's tears and that the blood of believers was precious to him.
She knew the Lord was not unfeeling. He had prepared her and she had felt him holding her undamaged soul and spirit despite what had happened to her body.
Not bitter
She said she knew people would say she was living in denial. She herself was a therapist, however, and knew what trauma involved.
She knew there would be times when she became angry but she suspected she would not become bitter. The Lord would protect her against it. Bitterness would do nothing to the rapist but would eat at her.
Both she and Louis felt sorry for the rapist. They thought he was pathetic. He probably had never experienced the love of a woman.