‘Remorseless wife-beater’ Alexi Bizos to be sentenced on Valentine’s Day

Alexi Bizos, who attacked his then wife Monique van Oosterhout in 2015 and left her with six broken ribs, will be sentenced on February 14th.

The son of late human rights lawyer Advocate George Bizos was convicted of assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm in July last year.

The court found him guilty of assaulting Van Oosterhout more than nine years after punching her in their home in Johannesburg.

Assault

The assault happened in 2016 when Bizos and Van Oosterhout were still married.

Van Oosterhout, who approached Afriforum‘s Private Prosecution Unit (PPU) in 2018 when the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) failed to prosecute, suffered six broken ribs during the attack.

The trial eventually started in January 2020.

During sentencing proceedings on Wednesday, Gerrie Nel, head of the AfriForum unit, told the court a “prison sentence is the only appropriate punishment for a remorseless wife-beater who taunted his victim and then tried to convince the court that he was, in fact, the victim.”

ALSO READ: George Bizos’ son Alexi convicted nine years after brutal assault on wife

A ‘bully with money’

Nel described Bizos as a “bully with money” and a “wife-beater” who violated the sanctity of the home, which, like most cases of GBV, became a crime scene.

The court previously found that Bizos was an evasive witness who tailored his evidence.

 Nel argued that the justice system failed Van Oosterhout.

“Despite the lip service paid to the fight against gender-based violence and strengthened legislation to deal with this societal scourge, and even a yearly period of action and reflection on gender-based violence, the criminal justice system has failed victims in general and this victim in particular. She had to resort to private prosecution to get justice.”

‘Restoring public trust’

Nel stressed that the sentence should restore public trust in the justice system.

“Violence perpetrated against the most vulnerable in society persists unabated, either because the accused have become accustomed to law enforcement and the NPA’s reluctance and failure to deal with these matters, and/or the inappropriate sentences imposed on the men convicted of these egregious crimes.”

‘How many ribs for a R10 000 fine?’

 Nel told the court that Bizos’ lack of remorse calls for severe punishment.

 “A fine would create a lottery for assault. How many ribs for a R10 000 fine? How much will it cost me to silence my wife that is wasting my time? A suspended sentence in this instance would be shockingly inappropriate and will elevate the interests of the accused above that of the victim and society.”

 “We argue direct imprisonment as the only proper sentence to reflect the court’s abhorrence of a man who assaults his vulnerable wife in the privacy of her home and shows no contrition whatsoever,” said Nel.

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