George Bizos’ son back in court in May for alleged assault on wife

Alexis Bizos, the son of world-renowned human rights advocate George Bizos, appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Friday for allegedly assaulting his wife of 23 years, Monique van Oosterhout.

The date of hearing the matter was provisionally set for 4 May.

Bizos is being privately prosecuted by AfriForum’s private prosecution unit headed by Advocate Gerrie Nel, who acted as prosecutor on behalf of the victim, who was married to Bizos at the time of the incident.

Bizos appeared in court on a charge of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

In a statement on Friday, AfriForum said Bizos allegedly assaulted his then-wife in 2015 and broke six of her ribs.

The organisation said the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) initially refused to prosecute him and that, after it announced in 2018 that it had applied for a zero prosequi certificate to prosecute Bizos, the NPA announced “in a hand reversal decision” that the authority would continue to prosecute him.

“Bizos was then invited to make representations to the NPA before the prosecution would be instituted. After receiving [his] representations, the NPA again decided not to prosecute. Van Oosterhout then again applied for a certificate to prosecute Bizos privately.”

This, AfriForum said, clearly indicated that the NPA “merely” paid “lip service in cases of violence against women and children”.

The organisation alleged that Bizos was apparently not being prosecuted because of his father’s “political commitments”.

“And this is unacceptable,” said AfriForum’s chief investigator at its private prosecution unit Andrew Leask.

Leask said it was important for AfriForum’s private prosecution unit to get involved in such a case because the judicial system has “repeatedly failed this victim”.

“No one is above the law and that is why AfriForum’s private prosecution unit continues to drive this case and prosecute Bizos on behalf of Van Oosterhout. The NPA’s indications that they focus on cases of violence against women and children do not appear to be valid in all cases. We want to ensure that certain people are not regarded as superior to the law and consider violence against women in a serious light,” said Leask.

(Compiled by Makhosandile Zulu)

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