Victim Support

These would receive the victims at the place of safety, debrief and counsel them and make them comfortable in order to take creditable witness statements. They serve as a gateway to another pool of young dynamic and experienced attorneys linked with the NPO through Bomela Incorporated. This dynamic relationship provides expertise that would cover every aspect of the criminal offence committed against the victim by the perpetrator in order to fall squarely within the four corners of the description of the crime in order to guide the further investigation of the matter in respect of credible witness statements to the domestic violence committed against the victim.

Once this proper statement of the victim and together with that of the witnesses have been taken at the place of safety, the victim together with the witnesses would then be transported to a nearest police station for a criminal case to be opened with the statements to be commissioned by the police official who would be in attendance at the police station with all the loopholes closed.

This will assist in the quick turnaround time of investigating the matter, quick arrest of the perpetrator, the immediate enrolment of the matter at Court and the quick finalization of the matter without it being postponed unnecessary for further investigations for long periods.

At this point, the investigation is completed with the evidence still fresh in the minds of the victim and the witnesses, where necessary, all medical examinations are done and completed and the matter is expeditiously finalized.

During Court attendances, one social worker or counsellor will be in attendance together with the candidate attorney as a support structure during the Court proceedings not only support to the victim but also to the investigating officer and the public prosecutor.

Effectively, this multi-pronged approach not only assists the victim, but it also gives capacity to the value chain in the prosecution of the perpetrator by giving expertise to the police for the effective investigation of the matter, to have practitioners were necessary in order to do a proper examination of the victim and to the Court system where the prosecutor is empowered with a solid investigation that secures a conviction by the Court.

Where necessary, the NPO will advise the criminal justice system of the need to divert the perpetrator and assist the perpetrator with counselling on meritorious cases where it would still be possible for the perpetrator to be given support in order to repent and rebuild his/her relationship with the victim and/or the victim’s family.