ACID VICTIM ON THE MEND
HE DESTROYED her life – physically, emotionally and financially. And he was allowed to because the courts and the police failed to protect her.
In November 2014, Ines Antonio’s former boyfriend, and the father of her child, Jan Pieterse, threw a container of acid over her, burning her face and upper body.
Since then, Antonio has undergone 30 operations to repair the acid burns to her face and body. But she will never be the same… It has left her disfigured for life.
Although some time has passed since the incident, and she is slowly recovering, Antonio’s life is still in a shambles.
She was unable to finish matric, which she was writing at the time of the attack.
Antonio has now started studying on weekends but needs to support herself and her daughter. A benefactor offered her a free flat for a year, which ends this month, so she urgently needs to find work.
“The fact that I don’t have matric counts against me. I am desperate. All I want is to work while I study. I will do any kind of work – babysitting, hairdressing, even cleaning if necessary,” she said.
Pieterse received a 10-year jail sentence for attacking Antonio, one of the harshest sentences handed down for a case of grievous bodily harm.
He attacked Antonio while she was on her way to the shop to buy bread and milk.
He had told her that he had a gift for their daughter, then went to open the boot of his car and took out the container of acid, which he flung in her face.
Pieterse fled the scene and disappeared, and the police did little to find him.
He had disappeared from his place of residence, but the Norwood police who had received all of Antonio’s previous complaints of abuse never tried to locate him.
While he was on the run, Pieterse continued sending abusive text messages to Antonio, insulting her and threatening to kill her.
He repeatedly told her he would get off because of his disability – a one leg is shorter