A JOHANNESBURG woman’s fight against the police for their “dismal failure” to protect her from domestic violence goes to the Supreme Court of Appeal on Monday.

Receptionist Charmaine Naidoo‚ 42‚ is suing Police Minister Nathi Nhleko and several other police officials for damages of R430000. The minister is opposing the case.

She claims that when she turned to police for help‚ they refused to assist and instead arrested her.

The Women’s Legal Centre Trust‚ who are friends of the court in this case‚ say many women have a similar experience of the criminal justice system as being unhelpful.

In 2010‚ Naidoo approached a police station to lay a charge of domestic violence against her husband. Police refused to assist‚ telling her to get a protection order from court. But she was later advised at court that she did not need a protection order to open a case.

The next time she tried to open a case‚ police invited her husband to lay a counter-charge.

When her husband arrived at the station‚ both of them were arrested and detained overnight.

Naidoo wrote in court papers that this had left her “shocked and traumatised” given the severe physical and the emotional distress she had been subjected to by the domestic violence incident.

But the officer who detained her told the Johannesburg High Court: “It is domestic violence. I cannot allow two persons to go back under the same roof again. So it is better if we separate them till then‚ they will go to court and court decide…”

The court dismissed Naidoo’s complaint after questioning her reliability as a witness and weighing in on a withdrawal statement she made during the course of the domestic violence.

While Naidoo managed to secure a protection order eventually‚ this did not stop her husband from allegedly assaulting her months later.

She alleges that when the police arrived at her doorstep to take her statement she was threatened with arrest again and accused of “wrongfully having her husband locked up“.

“This case is an example of a dismal failure on the part of the police to know‚ understand and carry out their statutory duties‚” said the Women’s Legal Centre Trust in court papers.

Earlier this month‚ civil society organisations like the Legal Resources Centre told Parliament how domestic violence victims were left in the lurch. Domestic violence officers were often missing in action — either on leave or planning their December Christmas parties.

Monday is also D-Day for National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega‚ who was given until the end of August by chairperson of the portfolio committee for police‚ Francois Beukeman‚ to submit outstanding reports on the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act.