LUCILLE Schaper stilllives in the room whereshe watched her mother
burn after being set alight.A few marks created by the
flames can still be seen on thewall, but the new paint job andrearrangement of the room’sfew sticks of furniture hasmasked most of the damage.
Schaper and her sister,Cecilia, had been living in theNewlands home for almost adecade with Cecilia’s husband,Roeland Bosman, their fivechildren and invalid mother,Brenda Hedges.
But it was never a happytime. Schaper recalls the timewhen Bosman beat Cecilia witha metal pipe, the time he put agun in her face, and the numer-ous times he threatened “toburn the house down witheveryone in it”.
Schaper’s court statementagainst Bosman speaks vol-umes of the kind of abuse sheand her sister endured.
She alleged that beyond sim-ple fist strikes, she had beenattacked with a shovel, abroomstick and a butcher’sknife.
The years of emotional andphysical abuse culminated inthe sisters approaching advo-cate Cathy Welsh, at a divorceworkshop she was running forlegal NGO, ProBono.
Schaper and her mother hadalready applied for protectionorders against Bosman, whohad emotionally and physicallyabused them more times thanshe could remember.
As Bosman became increas-ingly violent, Cecilia wasforced to pursue her own pro-tection order – and divorce pro-ceedings – against him.
Schaper remembers thebuild-up to her mother’s death,an incident that left her with a
bloody hand just a few weeksprior.
Schaper had arrived hometo her despondent sister whorefused to talk. Later thatnight, Bosman had returned tothe house, and Schaper had agut feeling something bad wasgoing to happen. Bosman wasconvinced that because of hersister’s despondency, Schaperhad contacted the police to havehim arrested. With an accusa-tory tone, Bosman shouted atSchaper about why she hadcalled the police.
Her young niece, Nicole,saw her father from inside thehouse, noticed a knife in hishands and screamed: “He’sgoing to stab you!”
Schaper immediately ranfrom the rapidly approachingman, and tried slamming thedoor of her cottage to preventhim from coming in. Using thedoor as a shield, she managedto force it shut, but not beforethe butcher’s knife stabbedthrough the thin door, inchesaway from her hand – twice.She screamed for her niece tocall the police, which seemed toscare off her attacker, who ranfrom the property and downthe street. The two knife holesare still visible on the door.
Police officers eventuallyarrived but, according toSchaper, didn’t leave their carto look at the evidence. She toldthe officers that Bosman washiding somewhere down thestreet, as usual, but she wastold she had to open a case atthe nearby station.
When she went to Sophia-town police station to reportthe attack and open a case ofattempted murder, she waslaughed off by investigators.
It was only after repeatedvisits to the station that policeeventually opened a new case,not of attempted murder but ofmalicious damage to property,despite being informed of theprotection orders andBosman’s history of abuse.
On November 8, just threedays before the event thatwould change their lives forever, Cecilia served the divorcepapers on her estranged hus-band.
At first, Bosman tried to rec-oncile, but when she rejectedthese attempts, the threatscame stronger and faster thanever before. Bosman wouldbreak into the home at allhours of the night, sometimesstanding over Cecilia’s bed,sometimes to see his children.
The sisters approachedSophiatown police station overand over again during the serv-ing of the divorce papers andon the day of their mother’sdeath – citing their protectionorders against Bosman – butwere told by a senior officerthey could “not open a case”.
As the family’s pro-bonolawyer, Welsh tried on Novem-ber 8 to have Bosman arrestedimmediately, following a seriesof vicious threats.
Welsh told police investiga-tors that when she contactedBosman, he said he was goingto “burn and kill them all”.
But Schaper’s affidavit saysit all: “The accused was notarrested.”
On Sunday, November 10,after yet another attempt at thestation, the sisters returnedhome. Schaper told her sister tobe careful; to lock the doors incase Bosman tried to break in.
“I don’t want to be a pris-oner in my own house!” sheshouted back in frustration.
Schaper, no longer willing toargue, went back to her room.
But at about midday,screams erupted from insidethe house.
“No, no, help me!” she heardher mother shouting in
Afrikaans. Schaper ran to thewindow of her mother’s room,the fumes of petrol wafting out-side. Inside, she saw Bosman,trying to light a match whileher mother’s wails becamelouder and louder.
Next to the arsonist wasCecilia’s oldest son, Christo-pher, just 11 at the time, lookingon. Schaper screamed for theman to stop, but he continuedhis work.
She watched as her motherstruggled in vain to move, assevere rheumatoid arthritishad left her bedridden. The 74-year-old tried to lift her bodyfrom the mattress, but therewas just no time. Bosman hadstopped trying to light a singlematch, and had already takenout three more to create a trioof sparks.
Seconds later, Hedges wasengulfed in flames, but nolonger screaming. She hadleaned forward, almost vibrat-ing as she tried to rock backand forth.
Whether she had given upand accepted her fate, or hadalready entered a state ofshock, is a mystery that stillhaunts Schaper.
Bosman ran from the room,and Schaper ran after him. She
grabbed him by the neck, des-perately wishing she had thestrength to squeeze the lifefrom him. But realising theother children were still in thehome and hoping she couldsave her mother, she releasedher brother-in-law and ran for abucket.
Their next-door neighbour,Johan van der Merwe, was thefirst one to get inside the roomand douse Hedges.
Schaper said her niecerecalls how she saw her ownfather put his head in hishands, shouting: “What have Idone?” before running from thescene.
As she and Johan usedbucket upon bucket of water todouse the flames, Schaperrealised her mother was stillalive. An ambulance arrivedbefore the local police, butwithin 24 hours, Hedges haddied from her injuries.
Cecilia arrived home to thegroup of onlookers who hadheard the grim noises comingfrom inside. When she discov-
ered what had happened, shehad a panic attack at the scene,and had to be hospitalised.
When Schaper returned tothe police station for the secondtime on the day of the burning,she was met with further deri-sion.
The same officers who haddismissed her earlier that daysmiled at her after shescreamed about how hermother had been set on fire,making her even angrier.
While a case of attemptedmurder was opened, it tookdays before police could trackdown Bosman.
Welsh said that while sheattended each one of Bosman’sappearances to ensure he didnot get bail, an incompletedocket delivered to the JoburgMagistrate’s Court on Christ-mas Eve almost put him backon the streets.
The lawyer said thatbecause of the missing docu-ments, prosecutors at the courtbelieved he had only beencharged with arson, rather
than murder, and if she had notarrived to correct the error,Bosman would most likely havebeen given bail.
But even though Bosmanremains behind bars, with hismurder trial set down for Jan-uary in the high court, theSchaper family is still strug-gling to come to terms with themost horrific year of theirlives.
Schaper says that each dayshe relives the moments lead-ing up to her mother’s death,wondering if there was any-thing she could have done toprevent it.
Nothing will bring back theSchaper sisters’ mother, andtheir home remains a shambleswithout a true breadwinner forthe five children still livingunder their care.
While Schaper continuesher hunt for a steady job, shesays it’s difficult to watch heryoung nephews and niecessharing what she calls a poorexcuse for a bed.
“Moving on is hard.”
16 NEWS WEDNESDAY AUGUST 27 2014 The Star
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Daughter watches as momdies at the hands of abuserDomestic abuseremains unheard
as victims arekept silent by anuncaring justicesystem, writes
ShainGermaner
DAMAGED: Lucille Schaper shows the two knife holes on the door she used to block an oncoming attack by herbrother-in-law, Roeland Bosman, inset. PICTURE: TIMOTHY BERNARD
Living in terror and constant abuse, domestic violence victims are on their own
SHAIN [email protected]
FOR BATTERED, abusedwomen across the country, aprotection order is barelyworth the paper it’s printedon. Brenda Hedges’s tragicdeath is but one of manycaused by the ineffectivenature of these orders,according to political analystand senior researcher at WitsInstitute for Social and Eco-nomic Research, Lisa Vetten.
“A protection order is onlyworthwhile if you have apolice service to enforce it,”said Vetten.
But the issue of non-com-pliance around the DomesticViolence Act is not a newone, according to theresearcher. She said it’s beenpart of parliamentary ques-tioning since the early 2000s.
In her extensive researchinto the topic, Vetten notedhow the problem often camedown to a police station level.
She said the general atti-tude among officers dealingwith abuse complaints is toask the victim: “Are you sureyou really want to lay a com-plaint (against your spouseor partner)? Go away, thinkabout it and come back.”
Vetten alleges that mostofficers don’t want to dealwith the admin of register-ing such a complaint or fol-lowing protection orders, andbelieve that women takeadvantage of the legislation.
But what’s propagating
these attitudes is the lack ofpunishment for officers andstation commanders,because the mechanisms tocomplain about police non-compliance are so limited.
She says the Civilian Sec-retariat for Police simplydoes not have the teeth topunish officials.
“Make it about non-per-formance,” said Vetten, whobelieves that if a station doesnot comply, raises andbonuses should be withheld.
Posters detailing women’srights hung visibly in policestations could help victimsknow they have the right toopen up a case.
● Violence against women is a significant public health problem, as well as a fundamental violation of women’s human rights.
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Source: WHOVAW report 2013 Graphic: Nolo Moima
of women worldwide
have experienced either physical and/or sexualviolence
of all women who have been in a relationship have experienced physical and/or sexual violence
of women have experienced intimate partner violence in some regions
of all murders of women worldwide are committed by intimate partners
of women have been sexually assaulted by someone other than a partner worldwide
The women are
likely to:• Have alcohol use
disorders
• Suffer from depression or anxiety• Contract HIV
• Have low-birth-weight babies• Terminate pregnancy
High income 23.2%
36.6%
Africa
25.4%
Europe37.0%
EasternMediterranean 37.7%
South-East Asia
24.6%Western Pacific
35% 38%
38%
1
3
7%
Low to middle income
29.8%
Americas
Mapshowing regional prevalence rates of intimatepartnerviolence by World Health
Organisation region
Rates presented are for region.
No real protection
