Acid attacker guilty of assault

A man who threw drain acid at his ex girlfriend a year ago, has been found guilty of a lesser charge of assault.

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Johannesburg - A man who threw drain acid at his ex girlfriend a year ago, has been found guilty of a lesser charge of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court, on Tuesday found Jan Pieterse not guilty of attempted murder.

He attacked the 23 year old mother, Ines Antonio, in November last year.

Phindi Louw, spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority, said they were disappointed with the judgement because of the high prevalence of domestic violence in the country.

She said the NPA felt the court could have gone “a mile further to stretch and develop our laws”.

Antonio, who is still undergoing treatment at a rehabilitation centre, said: “I don’t know if it will be a light sentence or not. He threatened me, he promised me that he would pour acid on my face and he did. Domestic violence is high and the law isn’t taking charge and nothing is being done, it’s not good for us women and when we try defend ourselves we get higher sentences. These people are monsters.”

Magistrate Albertus Roux found that Pieterse and Antonio had had an ongoing abusive relationship and that she had turned to police to get protection orders against him before the attack happened.

Pieterse had claimed that he was defending himself from Antonio who he said had became aggressive towards him when he was trying to give a cellphone to the couple’s four-year-old daughter.

During the trial, he told the court he had wanted the child to be able to keep in touch with him as he was moving to a new residence.

The child was slightly injured in the acid attack.

It emerged during the trial that Pieterse had applied for a child grant to help with maintenance payments, but that this money had become the source of the conflict between them.

“Evidence showed that the accused stopped the grant because he was sick and tired of the accusations made by the complainant that he used the grant for other things and not their daughter,” Roux said.

Antonio had testified that on the day of the incident she was on the way to the shops and had no knowledge that Pieterse would be there.

But, Roux found that evidence from text messages between the couple had showed that there was communication between them of a planned meeting.

The court heard two versions of what happened next. The State’s case was that Pieterse had gone to the boot of his car and taken a container with liquid which he had thrown at Antonio, burning her face, arms, neck and chest. A little of the liquid had splashed on the child.

Pieterse, however, had given a different version, claiming Antonio had become aggressive and that he had reached out for something to throw at her and didn’t realise the canister contained acid.

Antonio spent two and a half months in hospital. She is still receiving treatment after losing one of her breasts because of the severity of the burns to 25% of her body.

Roux found that it was common cause that Antonio and Pieterse were in contact during the trial and that cellphone evidence showed that she wasn’t an angel either from the messages she had sent to him. Both Antonio and Pieterse had threatened each other with physical harm.

Antonio had denied that her new partner had communicated with Pieterse, but cellphone evidence showed otherwise, the magistrate found.

Roux also said it was unlikely that Pieterse would have travelled from Benoni without having a confirmed arrangement to see his daughter on the day in question.

He found Pieterse guilty of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm but cleared him of the attempted murder charge.

The matter was postponed to December 7 for sentencing proceedings.

ANA

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