“I saved the woman concerned, unwittingly, by drinking laced wine intended for her.  I seldom drink alcohol and did so this once to be congenial.  When the flirtatious man on her other side went to take a call, the woman noticed that I had no drink.  She shifted the glass he had poured for her to me, and summoned a waiter for another.  The man returned, presuming her to be drinking from the glass he had prepared for her.

I left early to do some work.  In my hotel room, I started to feel peculiar.  It got worse.  I needed to call for help but standing and walking caused me to deteriorate so rapidly that I never reached the telephone on the far side of the bed.  I collapsed onto the bed and lost consciousness, my fingers just centimetres from the telephone.  Hours later, I started drifting in and out of consciousness.  I believed I had suffered such a severe stroke, it would not be worth living, so I made no effort to call for help even though I now could”.

Leon Louw slipped date rape drug at conference banquet: Latest column in BDlive today published by Business Day.