Court hears how Jaco Swart fled South Africa, allegedly using a friend’s passport
AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit appeared in the Kuilsrivier Magistrate’s Court this morning for the private prosecution of convicted wife-beater Jaco Swart. The unit represents a female police officer who was allegedly assaulted by Swart.
The allegations are that an incident occurred on the morning of 13 January 2022, when the police officer’s neighbour asked her for help because her friend, Swart, was allegedly intoxicated after a night out and was refusing to leave her flat. At one point, Swart allegedly locked the security gate and prevented the woman from leaving her flat. The officer put her hand through the security gate and told Swart not to close the door. Despite this, and knowing she was a police officer, he allegedly used force and slammed the door on her arm causing damage to her tendon. She called for police backup, and Swart eventually left the property.
Swart was not present in court this morning. Head of the unit. Adv. Gerrie Nel brought an application to have the matter postponed in Swart’s absence, or alternatively a warrant of arrest be issued for Swart because he had fled the country.
Nel called Warrant Officer Rian Booysen to explain to the court why a summons could not be served on Swart. Booysen is the investigating officer in an unrelated fraud matter against Swart. During that investigation he established that the suspect used a friend’s passport to leave South Africa through the Lebombo border post, before making his way to the United Kingdom.
Booysen told the court that he had consulted with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) about a possible extradition of Swart, but he was told that it was too difficult to do because it amounted to “a lot of paperwork”.
Nel argued, “not only is this a clear example of dereliction of duty by the NPA, but a shameful failure of the complainant. This failure of the NPA now burdens civil society and private prosecutors with the duty to ensure that justice is done, and that guilty people cannot escape prosecution because it is too cumbersome to ensure their attendance in court,” he said.
Nel argued that ensuring an extradition was not outside the capability of the state, and referred to the recent Thabo Bester matter which saw senior government officials and politicians travel abroad to bring that accused back to the country. The only difference between the two cases is that the Swart matter has not received the same media attention as the Bester matter.
The matter was postponed to Monday, 21 August, for judgment.
