The Anene Booysen rape and murder shocked the world, and thrust the town of Bredasdorp into the global media spotlight. How could a crime so gruesome, so heinous happen in a bucolic little farming town? Over the weeks and months that followed the murder, there was a flurry of analysis, interventions and promises. In the seven years that have passed, there have been multiple other cases of murder and rape in and around Bredasdorp.

EWN revisits the town to catch up with the families of some of the victims, to assess whether anything has really changed, and to ask why the violence in this small town seems so very gruesome.