Simon’s Town-based bee researcher Jenny Cullinan describes the court system as a secondary form of abuse after spending just over a year trying to get justice after being assaulted in July 2021.

Cullinan appeared in the Simon’s Town Magistrates’ Court on 15 September, where her alleged assailant, Neel Ramlall, pleaded not guilty to a charge of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.

The trial was initially set to begin on 9 March, eight months after the incident, but was postponed when Ramlall — who until then had planned to represent himself — asked for legal counsel, according to Cullinan.

Neel Rumlall stands accused of assaulting Jenny Cullinan with intent to do grievous bodily harm. The assault allegedly took place in a remote area near Cape Point Nature Reserve on 31 July 2021. (Photo: Joyrene Kramer)

The trial was postponed a further two times, once because Ramlall’s attorney had not seen photographs being used as evidence by the prosecutor, and again to allow the defence time to examine an article about the alleged assault published in the False Bay Echo.

“The longer it drags on, the more one loses hope. And one gets incredibly worn down. It’s financially expensive, it’s emotionally expensive. You’ve got to relive this stuff the whole time,” Cullinan told Maverick Citizen.

Between April and June this year, 11,734 cases of assault GBH with women victims were opened with police, according to crime statistics for the first quarter of 2022/2023. This marks a significant increase from the same period in 2021, when 7,585 such cases were opened with police.

The case

According to Cullinan’s testimony on Thursday, the assault occurred in a remote area along Plateau Road near Cape Point Nature Reserve where she went to conduct wild bee research.

When Cullinan arrived there on 31 July 2021, accompanied by her two dachshunds, she noted three people on a nearby koppie. As she walked to her research area, one of them — the accused, Ramlall — came towards her.

Cullinan testified that Ramlall was carrying a narrow plank, sharpened at one end. He told her that he was hiking, and when she responded that the area required a permit, he said he had one.

“He said his name was Neel, and that he owned the [petrol] garage in Simon’s Town and lived in Simon’s Town,” said Cullinan. Ramlall subsequently told her he came to the area often to collect plants with his wife.

The ‘Justice for Jenny’ campaign has seen people — mainly women — gathering outside Simon’s Town Magistrates’ Court to support Jenny Cullinan. (Photo: Joyrene Kramer)

“I’d heard the owner of the garage in Simon’s Town was from Durban… so I thought, well, maybe he didn’t understand that you’re not allowed to take plants from a protected area,” she said.

Cullinan said she explained this to Ramlall, before offering to explain it to his wife. She began to head back towards the road, having seen his two companions walk that way.

“In that moment, my dog… started to jump up and down… I turned around and he was coming at me with the sharpened stick to stab me in the back of the neck,” she testified.

Ramlall allegedly beat her over the head with the plank, causing her to collapse. She got up and ran while he was crushing her fallen glasses with his foot.

“He ran after me shouting, ‘You want this’ and ‘I’m going to give it to you’,” said Cullinan, adding that Ramlall only stopped chasing her when a car came towards them along the road.

Upon reaching her car, Cullinan drove to the house of a friend, Theresa Schwab. Maverick Citizen has seen photos Schwab took of Cullinan, which show blood covering the left side of her neck due to a head wound.

The photographs were admitted as evidence during court proceedings. Another set of photos, taken by Cullinan a few days after the alleged assault, were also admitted. These showed bruising and swelling on her face.

Cullinan testified that the alleged assault had left her with a feeling of “before and after”.

“I’m not back to myself yet,” she said. 

According to Sonja van den Heever, Ramlall’s attorney, he maintains that Cullinan was the aggressor during their encounter, and that she assaulted him and he tried to defend himself.

Van den Heever said Ramlall would testify that he was hiking in the area and tried to walk away from Cullinan due to her “aggressive nature”, but that she wanted to search him and his companions and smacked him when he wouldn’t comply.

Ramlall would further testify that he used the stick he was holding to push Cullinan away from him after she struck him, and it made contact with her head. He then pushed her away again when she kept coming, and she fell.

“… my client is also going to come and testify that you told him you were going to ‘f**k him up’,” said Van den Heever.

Cullinan denied these allegations.

State prosecutor Chandré Green called on the doctor who treated Cullinan after the alleged attack as a witness. However, he was unavailable. The next trial date was set for 27 October.

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There is a separate trial ongoing in which Cullinan faces a charge of common assault, brought against her by Ramlall.

Cullinan has obtained a temporary harassment protection order against Ramlall, which she applied for after he and his wife allegedly drove past her house on 11 March, according to a report by the False Bay Echo.

Ramlall has also obtained a temporary protection order against Cullinan. The court proceedings to make the respective protection orders permanent are ongoing.

Maverick Citizen approached Ramlall outside court on 16 August, but he declined to comment on the case.

The court system

The court system should move swiftly, particularly when it comes to cases of violence against women, Cullinan told Maverick Citizen. Instead, many cases are dragged out in a way that makes it difficult to heal and move on with life.

“It’s very difficult on so many levels,” she said. “This system… seems to inflict a secondary wound on those who are already survivors of violence.”

The process is expensive. There are legal fees and transport costs. A court appearance often requires a person to take the entire day off work, as there is no knowing when the matter will be heard.

In the past year, Cullinan has sometimes had to be in court up to five times a month.

“Luckily, I’m my own boss and so I can take the time off… but I can imagine if you had a job and you didn’t have a sympathetic employer — you would probably lose your job because it just goes on for too long,” she said.

Access to justice has continued to be problematic for many women, according to Bronwyn Pithey, lawyer and head of the Right to be Free from Violence programme at the Women’s Legal Centre.

Although South Africa has good legislation in the form of the Domestic Violence Act and the Protection from Harassment Act, the practical implementation of these pieces of legislation is not uniform.

“Our courts are battling, generally, with postponements and cases that are on the roll for a long time,” she said. “Our criminal courts are massively backlogged, so very often women are left to their own devices…”

While government messaging encourages “coming forward” and “speaking out”, many of the women who do engage with the justice system are let down — either the process takes too long, or they are not provided with enough information.

“I know there are a lot of people within the system who do care and try very hard,” emphasised Pithey. “I don’t think there are… the proper accountability structures to hold people to account for the things that they are mandated to do.

“I think, as a whole, the system is cumbersome, and very often I think the focus on the complainant or victims is lost. And that really should be our focus, in terms of providing the services.”

During the course of the trial, Cullinan discovered that many of the women going into the courthouse have had harrowing experiences.

“I feel like, every day, I should be down there protesting for all the other women going in, so that they have support,” she said.

While waiting for the trial to begin on Thursday, Maverick Citizen observed Cullinan speaking to another woman in the hallway. The woman was on her own with a baby strapped to her back. She had bruising on her face and said she was seeking a protection order against her boyfriend — the man who had beaten her.

When Cullinan’s case was adjourned, about two hours later, the woman was still waiting in the hallway.

‘Justice for Jenny’

A group known as the Justice for Jenny campaign has protested outside Simon’s Town Magistrates’ Court each time Cullinan appeared over the past few months. They have held signs with messages such as “Jail violent men”, “Justice for Jenny” and “No to GBV”.

“The… thing that I really feel is important, apart from just supporting her in this effort in terms of gender-based violence, is the fact that the court system is appalling. I’ve been there on most [trial] days this year to see postponement after postponement after postponement,” said Mary Smith, a supporter of the campaign.

“It’s important for us to keep our finger on the button all the time and not let up. And if there were other people who were protesting in a similar way, I would very happily join those protests.”

Protesters supporting Jenny Cullinan outside Simon’s Town Magistrates’ Court have held posters with messages such as ‘Jail violent men’ and ‘No to GBV’. (Photo: Joyrene Kramer)

Another supporter, Lee-Ann Olivier, became involved through her friendship with Cullinan. However, she was also motivated to join the campaign by an increasing awareness of the “daily assault on women” and how little this issue was covered by the media.

“The blatant inequality and disregard for women needs to be addressed. Women have power in numbers. We need to band together,” she told Maverick Citizen.

The protests outside the court have had a significant impact, she continued, as they have raised public awareness that women are not going to “shut up and keep quiet”. 

“It’s not just my story, but it’s many other women’s stories,” said Cullinan. 

“Hopefully, [the Justice for Jenny campaign] can be some form of pressure for constructive change… because there’s a collection of women outside who have gone through something tragic… and they’re there representing that tragedy.” DM/MC