Charlene Pretorius was a loved mother of three, living a seemingly normal life in Gauteng. Everything seemed fine… but just below the surface, a war was raging.
During their 16-year marriage, her husband, Stephan Pretorius, threatened to shoot her and the children. She obtained various protection orders, which he violated repeatedly. She filed for divorce in February of 2023 and obtained what would be her last protection order before he killed her in an unimaginable way. In a harrowing act, her husband set her alight in front of their teenage daughter. He fled the scene and left Charlene for dead. Her family hurried her to hospital, but she succumbed to her injuries.
Now he has threatened to do the same to her children. Action Society is fighting to keep him in jail – no bail!
Join our fight to get justice for Charlene
Action Society deployed private investigators in June of 2023 to assist with the investigation and is satisfied that the contributions made by the Action Society investigator in the bail arguments have proven three things:
1
That Pretorius has no respect for the court – he has violated various protection orders
2
That his threats aren’t empty – he acted on his threats to kill his wife. He set Charlene alight, causing her death. There is, therefore, no doubt that the three children are in genuine danger.
3
He is a flight risk – he fled the scene of the crime.
Charlene did everything right in her attempts to protect herself and her children against Pretorius. We believe this tragedy could have been avoided. The justice system continues to fail victims of domestic violence. When a protection order is violated, there should be an arrest with no police bail. The violation should signal to the police that the perpetrator is a real threat, and their role is then to protect the victim. This didn’t happen, and it cost Charlene her life.
We aim to ensure that the South African Police Service (SAPS) takes Stephan’s threats to burn the children seriously. Protecting the children and finding justice for Charlene is now the biggest priority.