Jaco Swart convicted of assault

7 June 2022

Jaco Swart has been convicted of assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm against his estranged wife, Nicoleen. The Pretoria North Regional Court sentenced Swart to a R20 000 fine, as well as a three-year prison sentence, suspended for a period of five years. AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit supported Nicoleen in this matter in terms of a watching brief.

Swart pleaded guilty to the two counts after facing an unassailable case, which included surveillance footage of his violent criminal acts. The CCTV footage captured Swart pushing, punching and kicking his wife at their business in 2018. Some of the vicious attacks took place in front of the couple’s two children.

The matter was previously struck off the roll. It was then that Nicoleen and her family approached the Unit for help. Advocate Gerrie Nel and his team, in terms of a watching brief from Swart, made representations to the DPP, and indicated that they were prepared to institute private prosecution. Thereafter, the DPP instructed in May 2021 that the accused must be summarily prosecuted.

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.

After proceedings, Nicoleen said: “While I’m disappointed at the sentence imposed by the court, I am pleased with the guilty verdict. It sends a strong message to women that they must speak out against gender-based violence, and there is always an ear willing to listen.”

“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.

Upon request, Nicoleen is in Gauteng, and available for interviews, until Thursday 9 June.

The surveillance footage, a video statement from Nicolene, as well as cutaways from court are available here - https://we.tl/t-Mf92Jh6kR7

#JacoSwart The footage the court did not get to see. For this gender-based violence, Jaco Swart was given a R20k fine and a suspended prison sentence. pic.twitter.com/VXNRmOrTVF

— Barry Bateman (@barrybateman) June 7, 2022

Issued by Barry Bateman, Communications Manager: Private Prosecution Unit, AfriForum, 7 June 2022