A recent High Court ruling highlights the dangers of victim-blaming, as a judge condemns a statement made in an appeal that suggests victims should escape their circumstances.
A convicted rapist who submitted that he was wrongly accused of rape because the complainant was scared that her aunts and grandmother, with whom she resided, would be angry with her for coming home late at night, will continue to serve his 10-year sentence.
Barend Booysen was convicted and sentenced by the Paarl Regional Court after he pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape.
In concluding her ruling, Western Cape High Court Acting Judge Phillipa Van Zyl said: “I should mention that, in his petition, the appellant raised as a ground of appeal that it ‘would have been expected of a victim to try and escape knowing what is about to happen for a second time’. This is a deplorable statement, and one that I hope not to see again in matters of this nature.”
According to court records, Booysen and the complainant did not know each other well, even though they were colleagues where they worked on farm Heksberg in Wellington.
