Image: FREDLIN ADRIAAN
Exuding confidence but still battling inner demons rape survivor Olivia Jasriel says while she has forgiven Bob Hewitt she wants to ensure justice prevails — and that is why she will oppose his release on parole.
Speaking after travelling to Port Elizabeth from her home in Pretoria Jasriel, 50, said although on the surface it would appear she was strong and had recovered she would not allow being victimised again for speaking out.
Hewitt, once a major name on the international professional tennis circuit, was convicted in March 2015 of raping two teenage tennis pupils and sexually assaulting a third in the 1980s and 1990s.
He was sentenced to six years.
He, however, was only jailed in September 2016 after his unsuccessful Constitutional Court appeal.
“It’s very difficult, people look at me and think that I’m ok. I am really not ok,” Jasriel, who will be at Hewitt's parole hearing on Tuesday, said.
Deciding to attend Hewitt’s parole hearing — to be held at St Albans Prison where the former tennis star and coach has been serving his sentence — Jasriel said it has been a long and hard fight.
“I had to fight really hard to get to this point ... constantly having to fight for justice.
“I need [Hewitt] to own what he did, to acknowledge what he had done — the pain he caused and the families he destroyed.
“He committed a crime — he had sex with a child [and] he doesn’t care. He has no regard,” Jasriel said.
Jasriel, who said she recently received a letter from Hewitt’s lawyer telling her to stop posting about him on social media, said she felt she had something to prove despite telling her story for years.
“I had a lot of guilt and self-hate.
“I was constantly questioning myself — not only about what had happened but if it was a mistake doing this [speaking out],” Jasriel said.
Jasriel, who was sexually assaulted and raped when she was just 12, said getting people to believe her and then helping to have Hewitt convicted had been a hurtful and frustrating process.
"[Hewitt] continues to play the victim. I don’t think he has changed. I believe he needs to stay in prison. I do not believe he has been rehabilitated and [he] has taken no accountability for his actions,” Jasriel said.
Over the past ten years Jasriel has had to deal with many hardships that stem from speaking out, she said.
First, speaking out meant losing her family and then she and her teenaged son had changed their names.
“Probably the biggest thing was to change my name. There was a stigma that I was a troublemaker and I continued to be victimised because of that ... even by the tennis community,” Jasriel said.
However, things have changed and Jasriel is now back on the tennis court and in contact with her son who now lives in Peru.
“Many people knew back then but no-one believed me,” Jasriel said.
During Hewitt’s trial both of Jasriel’s parents testified — opposing what she said.
Jasriel said she now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder which made it difficult to cope but with the proper support she had managed to battle her way through the distress.
“I am in a functional relationship for the first time ever,” Jasriel said.
Jasriel, who started the Jasriel Foundation to help victims of sexual assault, said it was cathartic to know that she could help others.
“If no-one believes you when you speak out, find me on social media and I will listen to you,” Jasriel said.
Asked how she felt about Hewitt’s possible parole after serving just over three years in jail Jasriel said although he was now 80 he still needed to experience the consequences of what he did to a 12-year-old girl.