Judging history
Outrage
After the assault in 1998, Tracy Going filed charges of malicious damage to property and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm against her former boyfriend.
At the trial’s conclusion in 2000, public outrage followed the decision handed down by magistrate W Ewart. Ewart fined the accused R5 000 on each count, accompanied by a 12-month suspended sentence on condition he continued with drug-rehabilitation treatment. Women’s rights organisations were vocal in protest, saying that the court had violated the rights of all women.
Mampara
Ewart was named Mampara of the Week in the Sunday Times of February 13 2000: “Ewart imagined himself to be quite a wit and doled out the line ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’. Well, actually, the public is quite furious about the scorn Ewart has poured on the fight against the abuse of women. He should be charged for contempt of society.”