In December 2010 while in Port Elizabeth, Kawa was abducted, attacked and raped for 15 hours at Kings Beach while out for a walk. Her attackers were never caught although officers arrested two men for being in possession of her clothes and property which they had stolen from her car.
Sephton slammed the investigating officer for not following up CCTV footage and DNA evidence or ensuring that potential suspects were questioned. She said that had the search been conducted properly, Kawa's attack would have ended hours earlier as police would have found her.
Kawa said the appeal made it clear that the police minister and the president were not speaking the same language. "The police minster's motivation for appealing is that it will open the floodgates for other such cases. Instead of worrying about the floodgates being opened, the police should be worrying about fixing how cases are investigated, getting cases ready for trial and ensuring that cases are strong enough to be successfully prosecuted.""The gathering of evidence is where the police's responsibilities lie.