A well-known Joburg socialite and fashionista won her battle to ensure her husband can never assault her again.
|||A well-known Joburg socialite and fashionista on Friday won her battle to ensure her husband can never assault her again.
The businesswoman, who may not be named because of the country’s divorce laws, especially where minor children are involved, was granted a final protection order against her husband of 10 years.
Her husband spent a fruitless week badgering the Saturday Star to paint his wife as the aggressor in the matter and himself as the innocent party.
Sending copies of all the affidavits that his lawyers had filed in court, he denied ever intimidating his wife or beating her up.
He told the court that pictures of his wife lying in hospital in a neck brace in January this year, the day she filed the original complaint of assault against him, meant nothing because she had later arrived in court without the brace and on her own, (which) was a clear indication that she had driven herself to court despite her injuries.
He claimed she had consistently lied as she spoke positively about him in the media in 2008 and that she did not press charges when she reported a domestic violence case at the Douglasdale police station.
He distanced himself from any allegations that his wife had her nose fixed because of him assaulting her, saying he had paid for the rhinoplasty with the sole intent of her winning the Mrs Globe World pageant she had entered.
In a supporting document, also filed in court, the husband demanded that his wife “refrain from financially abusing him” by claiming not to have money to buy household groceries when she in fact could afford a luxurious lifestyle.
He claimed she owned two luxury vehicles, a R200 000 collection of shoes, and a R12 000 birthday cake had been made by a chef for his wife’s birthday party at an upmarket club in December last year.
On Friday, his lawyers asked the court to lift the interim domestic protection order because of this.
Instead, the court confirmed the order and issued a warrant for the husband’s arrest to be lodged at the Midrand Police Station
This means that if the husband even once breaks the conditions of the protection order, all the wife has to do is make a sworn statement and the police will arrest him immediately.
The husband could then be tried and, if convicted, be sentenced to up to five years in jail.
Speaking on behalf of his client, publicist Siphiwe Majola said regardless of the court judgment being in her favour, he had been instructed not to comment as his client wanted to protect the integrity of her 10-year marriage.
“I would still like to appeal that you respect their privacy during this trying time,” Majola said.
Last week the Saturday Star reported how the woman had filed papers claiming that her husband, a head of department at a parastatal, had been beating her up since 2004.
Matters came to a head on January 16 at their luxurious Midrand home, however, and she finally went to the police to report a case of domestic violence.
In papers before the court, she said he hit and pushed her until she fell.
Then he allegedly snatched her cellphone and deleted a video she had recorded of the brawl.
Her neck and shoulder injuries were recorded by Sunninghill emergency practitioners Drs Monieith, Na, Wells and Heymans after she was admitted to the casualty ward at the hospital on January 17.
She told the court the brawl had been just one of many incidents. She subsequently filed for an interim protection order at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court.