Delayed justice irks GBV victim

ASSAULT CASE: ACCUSED COP LEAVES TRAIL OF FEAR

- Marizka Coetzer

Pretoria gender-based violence (GBV) victim said there was nothing to celebrate this Women's Month after the case against her cop ex-boyfriend was postponed again.

Yesterday, Izelle Venter had to face her alleged abuser, a Hawks officer, in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court in a case of assault which has been dragging on for five years.

She will have to return next month to hear if the new application to get a state witness to testify will be granted and if the case will be postponed again.

Venter describes testifying against her ex-boyfriend, Jacques Loock, a captain in the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, as one of the hardest things she had to do.

"It feels like the defence keeps on playing for time. Delayed justice is justice denied," she said.

After the attack in February 2019, Venter spent five days recovering in an intensive care unit and was booked off from work for another six weeks.