"The abuse was 'normal', why would I run away?" - Eldest daughter of 'Springs Monster'

The big and beautiful house in Springs looked like the perfect family home with trees and a swimming pool - but that was not the case. 

In 2014, a horror story emerged in South Africa about a house in Springs where a father, a rich businessman, had locked his five kids inside with no contact with the outside world. 

The father attacked, abused, burnt, shocked, and nearly killed his children on numerous occasions. No one had any idea that this family was being abused by their father. 

Everything changed when one of the kids (eleven-years-old) escaped from the house and decided to get help from neighbours. The neighbours were so shocked when they first saw the boy covered in blood. They took the boy back to the house and his father abused him further. His father tortured him in the swimming pool. He also covered the boy in a duvet and hid him in the ceiling of the outside room. 

The neighbours then called the police - and they visited the house. 

He became known as the 'Springs Monster' and is now serving an effective sentence of 35 years in prison. 

His eldest daughter, Landi, joined Breakfast with Martin Bester to share her story of survival. 

"When I was removed from the house I didn't want people to know who I was," she says.

"There was about 32 cameras in the house - 24/7 he wanted to know what we were doing. 

"When he spoiled us - it was so weird because it was not normal for him to spend money on us.

"My mother played a big role - she wasn't a mother - but she was just always there. My sister called her 'tannie' because I had to play the mother role.

"I'm still in the process to forgive my mother - she chose my father above us  and she did not protect us because she was so scared of him.

"He gave me drugs when I was 15-years-old.

"I forgave him."

This is what the 'Huis van Gruwels' looks like.