Johannesburg - A woman who was badly burnt when her ex-boyfriend allegedly threw acid on her face and chest, has described how he wanted her to be disfigured so that nobody else would want her.
Ines Antonio, 22, told Netwerk24 how Jan Pieterse, 39, attacked her outside her house in Sydenham in November last year. Their 4-year-old daughter sustained minor burns to her arms.
Pieterse appeared briefly in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on Wednesday on a charge of attempted murder. The case was postponed to 11 February.
Antonio told Netwerk24 that she met Pieterse in Benoni four years ago and became pregnant two months later. He wanted her to have an abortion and when she refused, he allegedly stabbed her in the arm with a broken bottle. She left him but he continued to harass her and their child, even threatening to kill her.
She said she did not expect the brutal attack, which took place shortly after she wrote her first matric exam, and questioned why he did not just leave her as she was. He allegedly told her that if he couldn’t have her, nobody could.
Antonio, originally from Mozambique, was discharged from hospital last week, and will receive further skin grafts after her body rejected earlier transplants. She described how she cannot look after herself, and how she cries day and night due to the pain.
In court on Wednesday, Pieterse lost his bid to prevent his photograph being taken by media houses.
He was denied bail at a previous court appearance in December as he was considered a flight risk, and had allegedly continued to threaten Antonio following the acid attack.
Ines Antonio (Simone Kley, Netwerk24)
