While a 53-year-old Gqeberha man is expected to plead guilty in the city’s high court this week to the murder of this mother and his former landlord, it has emerged that his mother had a protection order against him.
And with the rising rate of crimes against women and other gender-based violence offences, legal experts have warned those in danger to seek legal assistance through the courts.
In papers before court, it is alleged that the protection order was taken out against Peter Lyons before the November 28 2019 murder of his mother, Mabel, at her Mpuko Street home.
While the reasons for the protection order are not yet clear, a source close to the investigation said Lyons had previously indicated that the devil had told him to kill his mother.
He is further accused of the March 2006 murder of Dennis Peter Ogle, from whom he had previously rented a room at a house in Coleus Crescent, Sanctor.
Statistics released by the SA Police Service in February paint a grim picture of an alarming increase in domestic crimes during the third quarter, from October to December.
Statistics for the Eastern Cape show the number of people murdered went from 20 in the previous quarter to 51.
Cases of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm went from 330 to 817 and cases of common assault went from 451 to a staggering 1,080.
Lawyers interviewed agreed it was important for anyone in a domestic relationship, be it blood relatives or people in a romantic relationship, to approach the courts if they had been a victim of abuse, to obtain an interdict or protection order to prevent further abuse.
Defence attorney Dean Murray said the terms “interdict” and “protection order” were usually used interchangeably.
“In a nutshell, an interdict is an application to court, the high court or the magistrate’s court, where you obtain an interdict against somebody, which is a court order where a person is interdicted from either doing something or not doing something.
“It can be an act of omission or commission.”
Murray said it was important to know that all forms of abuse, verbal, mental, psychological, financial, emotional or physical, were considered criminal offences.
In an application for an interdict to be granted, the person applying for it must state that they have exhausted all other remedies and can be granted against anyone.
“Should you have an interdict and the conditions of the interdict are breached, you can then approach the same court, normally the high court, on a contempt of court application due to the fact that the person has breached the terms of a court order.
“That person will then be brought to court on a contempt of court order as well and it will be at the court’s discretion what a suitable sanction would be,” he said.
Family law attorney Joanne Anthony-Gooden said there were different types of protection orders — a domestic violence-related protection order and a protection-from-harassment order — both of which could be obtained from your nearest magistrate’s court.
According to Anthony-Gooden, a protection order is a type of interdict which can also be obtained from the high court.
In both incidences the person whom the order is against may not enter your home, for example.
But, she warned, a protection order could not force a person to remain a certain distance away due to the right to movement.
She said an interdict was different in that it would prohibit a person who was interdicted from behaving in a manner which was considered unacceptable in terms of the community.
Attorney Kuban Chetty said a protection order was a legislated form of a personal interdict that was accompanied by a warrant of arrest.
“In the case of protection orders, a warrant of arrest has already been issued and the local authorities merely need to be provided with the original warrant and a complaint that the terms of protection order have been contravened.”
He said should the person whom the protection order was against transgress any of the conditions of the order, he or she could be arrested and charged.
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