BARBERTON – Well known Barbertonian artist, Retha Olivier, was beaten, kicked and strangled near Coronation Park during the early hours of Friday evening.
Olivier departed from her home in Sheba Road while it was still light outside and went for her usual walk. When she reached town however, she realised that she won’t make it back before dusk and phoned her partner, DA Cllr Philip Minnaar to come and collect her. She assured him that there were plenty of people around and Minnaar, who was at that moment working on his laptop at their home, calmly finished and left in his car as it was still light outside.
Between the time of Olivier’s call and the time Minnaar reached Coronation Park however, two men approached her and proceeded in assaulting her. They pushed Olivier to the ground, hitting her, kicking her in the head and while choking her, kept yelling “You bitch, why don’t you die, why don’t you die?”
Olivier, who is quite fit and does have self-defence experience, fought back. “While the one was kicking me in the head, the other man drew back his fist and before punching me full in the face, he had the arrogance to say ‘Something to remember me by,’ He was not even worried that I might be able to identify him at a later stage. At that moment I kicked him as hard as I could. There were people having a braai at Coronation, cars driving past, pedestrians and no one lifted a finger to help me!”
“After I managed to get away, I ran into the road, trying to stop two cars to get help, but they just drove on. Pedestrians looked at me like I was some or other drunken, crazy person. I think this was the worst and although I was literally screaming for help, not one person offered any” said a much traumatised Olivier. “On my way to the police station, I stopped at the new restaurant, Josephine’s and the owners were very helpful and sympathetic towards me. I want to extend a special thank you to them for their kindness.”
Meanwhile, Minnaar was trying every second to get hold of Olivier, but her cell phones were taken by the attackers.
“At first I thought that she might have decided to start walking back slowly instead of waiting the few minutes, or that she was perhaps at the Jock Centre, getting a cold drink. After checking everywhere and not being able to get hold of her, I started getting extremely anxious, but continued checking every street and every place of business that was still open.” Minnaar told us on Friday evening.
On arrival at the police station, the SAPS couldn’t get hold of Minnaar as his phone was engaged in his attempt to reach Olivier. They phoned on Clarence Hobbs’ number and Olivier asked to speak to this journalist who is also a close acquaintance of the couple.
On arrival at the police station this reporter managed to get hold of Minnaar and he arrived within a minute. Olivier was badly beaten and the strangle marks were still evident on her neck. Her delicate face was bruised, her one eye was swollen from the fists of the attackers and her nose looked out of proportion. She was much traumatised and shaking like a leave from shock, but grateful to be alive.
Minnaar were instructed by the SAPS to take Olivier to the Provincial Hospital which he did. On Saturday morning, however, they visited their private GP who suggested Olivier goes for X-rays on Monday.
On Thursday morning, Minnaar addressed the attendees at Jathira during the breakfast that was held by the DA to pronounce Richard Lukhele’s resignation from the ANC and joining of the DA. That same evening, during the opening of the new restaurant, Josephine’s, Minnaar and Olivier were two of the guests and while dining, the tyres on Minnaars’ car were tampered with.
Minnaar concluded “Retha and I certainly had a very grim two days, but fortunately many good things have also happened the past week and I am thankful that Retha is alive and safe. I do feel that a SAP vehicle should have been dispatched immediately after Retha’s arrival at the police station, but apparently this is not procedure. I believe that the chances of capturing the attackers would have been much higher had a van left immediately as the delay gave the attackers plenty of time to escape the scene. This is an issue that needs to be addressed, but will have to be taken up with the appropriate officials. At the Provincial hospital, the security guards at the gate also made it very difficult for us to get in and with their poor attitudes this added to the frustration. The security at our Provincial Hospital has been the topic of discussion amongst other of my acquaintances as well and it also needs to be addressed. It is no wonder that many assaults are not even reported. The effort and frustration is just too much and all the while the victim is the one suffering.
“Barberton needs to wake up. We need to get this town back to what it once was – a safe home for our loved ones, somewhere fear is not foremost on our minds.
“The way crime is getting out of hand is totally unacceptable and we need to deal with culprits in the severest way possible. Make an example of those who doesn’t uphold the law. Our society can only exist in peace if we refuse to be victimized as is currently the case.”
