Jaco Swart petition

Jaco Swart was seen, amongst other things, fly-kicking his wife while at work – Photo: Barry Bateman / Twitter

‘A slap on the wrist’: Lamola told to deal with GBV abuser Jaco Swart

Disturbing footage of Jaco Swart beating his wife Nicoleen to a pulp has since gone viral on Twitter, and people are fuming

Jaco Swart petition

Jaco Swart was seen, amongst other things, fly-kicking his wife while at work – Photo: Barry Bateman / Twitter

There has been an outpouring of anger after Jaco Swart, a Gauteng man essentially got a slap on the wrist for viciously assaulting his now estranged wife. The Pretoria North Regional Court simply ordered Swart to pay a R20 000 fine and handed him a three-year prison sentence, suspended for a period of five years.

In addition to the outrage, there are now mounting calls for Justice Minister Ronald Lamola to intervene. Gender-based violence activists are demanding that the sentenced handed be reviewed and that he receive a much harsher punishment. Even the late Nelson Mandela’s former assistant Zela la Grange tagged Lamola on her tweet, claiming Swart had even assaulted someone else just days prior.

The state prosecutor had applied to have footage of Swart’s assault be presented to the court but the court disallowed this after the defence questioned its authenticity. Afriforum’s Barry Bateman subsequently posted the video clips on Twitter, after the court made its decision.

CALLS FOR JACO SWART TO FACE JUSTICE

The footage of Jaco Swart beating his wife Nicoleen to a pulp has since gone viral on the social media platform.

Here is some background: The case against Swart was previously struck off the roll, but then Nicoleen and her family approached Afriforum’s private prosecutions unit for assistance. The unit’s head, advocate Gerrie Nel and his team, made representations to the Director for Public Prosecutions (DPP), and indicated that they were prepared to institute private prosecution against him. The DPP then instructed in May 2021 that the accused must be summarily prosecuted.

Nel wasn’t pleased with the Pretoria North Regional Court’s ruling and slammed the South African justice system’s failure to properly consider victims.

“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,”

Advocate Gerrie Nel

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