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A man from Centurion has been fined R20 000 and received a suspended sentence after viciously assaulting his now estranged wife.
Thirty-eight-year-old Jaco Swart was sentenced in the Pretoria North Regional Court on Tuesday after Afriforum's Gerrie Nel assisted his wife Nicoleen when the NPA struck the case off the roll.
Swart was convicted of assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm and received a three-year prison sentence, suspended for a period of five years.
"We are confronted by the lip service paid to the fight against gender-based violence by all in the criminal justice system, as well as a lack of commitment and competence to take proper care for the victims of gender-based violence. However, we want to applaud Nicoleen Swart who decided not to remain a victim but to speak out," says Private Prosecution Head, Adv. Gerrie Nel.
The NPA prosecutor applied to have the surveillance footage admitted for the purposes of aggravation of sentence, but the court disallowed this after the defence questioned its authenticity.
AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit had hoped more was done to ensure the footage was admitted to the record, to allow the magistrate to view first-hand Swart’s violent conduct directed at his wife.
Thirty-five-year-old Nicoleen has since expressed her disappointment in the outcome but urged women to speak out against gender-based violence.
The couple who are busy divorcing has two children, aged 12 and 14.
