A bee researcher’s three-year court battle with the man who was found guilty, in August last year, of assaulting her has finally come to an end after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) decided not to prosecute her.
Jenny Cullinan was charged with assault after her attacker, Neel Ramlall, filed a counter-claim of assault against her, following his assault on her on the afternoon of July 31, 2021 (“Beaten and jailed - a story of survival,” Echo August 11, 2022).
The charges against her were officially withdrawn in the Muizenberg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday August 13.
Outside court, Ms Cullian, who believes that victims of gender violence are let down by the system, said: “This is a victory for all women in South Africa. This is not just my victory.”
She said Ramlall had never shown any remorse for what he had done.
Ramlall was accused of hitting Ms Cullinan repeatedly with a stick with a sharpened end on a mountain near Cape Point Nature Reserve.
After a two-year-long trial, the Simon’s Town Magistrate’s Court found Ramlall guilty of common assault and not assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm with which he had first been charged.
He was sentenced to four months in jail or a R1 200 fine, which Ms Cullinan’s supporters called “a slap on the wrist and a slap in the face for victims of gender violence” (“A slap on the wrist and a slap in the face’,” Echo, September 7, 2023).
At the time, Ramlall testified that Ms Cullinan had been the aggressor, had sworn at him, and had slapped him.
He claimed he was defending himself by keeping her “at bay” with a stick with a sharpened edge that caused a 2cm laceration on her head that was approximately 2mm deep and needed stitches.
However, despite being found guilty of assaulting Ms Cullinan, the court case against her continued.
This, despite her then-lawyer, Owen Barrow, submitting representations to the DPP in August 2022 to have the charges against her withdrawn.
The DPP denied the request without providing any reasons.
In April this year, Ms Cullinan’s sister, Kerry Cullinan, submitted a petition, to the DPP, Advocate Nicolette Bell, again asking for the charges to be withdrawn.
Kerry said receipt of the petition was never acknowledged.
Following Ramlall’s conviction, Ms Cullinan’s lawyer retired.
Community Cohesion, a victim empowerment and violence prevention non-profit, organised a new lawyer to represent Ms Cullinan in court and raised funds through crowdfunding.
On Monday August 12, a letter from the DPP was received stating that it had decided to “no longer institute a prosecution against the accused”.
Community Cohesion director Bronwyn Moore compiled a timeline of Ms Cullinan's legal battle and said that in a country that speaks about gender-based violence being a “pandemic”, Ms Cullinan’s experiences over the past two years had led her to believe that it was only gender-based violence when a woman was murdered.
“The immense loss suffered by Jenny as a victim and the very real secondary trauma she was subjected to while trying to attain justice should never be forgotten,” Ms Moore said, adding that she hoped that questions would be asked about her case.
“No victim should have to be subjected to institutional trauma. The system should work for all victims.”
Ms Cullinan said her case was emblematic of a broader crisis and highlighted the severe deficiencies in South Africa's justice system, where victims often endured prolonged delays, lost evidence, and costly legal fees.
In an email to the Echo, Ramlall said the media had always sided with Ms Cullinan as she was “quite skilled at playing the victim”.
He said her win was not only a win for white privilege but also a win for gay privilege.
“Unfortunately, an attack on a man by a lesbian is not seen as gender-based-violence,” he said, adding that in the future, one could expect charges to be dropped against paedophiles, child groomers and dealers selling puberty blockers.
He said he had written to Advocate Bell indicating that he was aggrieved by the DPP’s decision not to prosecute.
He said he had two eyewitnesses to the incident and a Simon’s Town police officer who had seen his “swollen face”.
“A grave injustice has been done to me and my family when I was convicted of common assault. I still had faith as I knew her turn was coming… She may have fooled you with her CGI computer-generated image of a head wound and cracked tooth but not the majority,” the letter reads.
He also wrote that Ms Cullinan had attacked him because of his race and his gender.
“I should be able to walk with my family in my backyard regardless of my race or gender. I accept her as a queer and she should accept me as an African but of Indian descent.”
National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Eric Ntabazalila acknowledged the Echo’s media enquiry to Advocate Bell but did not respond by time of publication.