JUSTICE AFTER 44 YEARS

A nurse from KZN has finally achieved justice after winning a case of sexual abuse against her 82-year-old stepdad

- JANA VAN DER MERWE

ASAN intensive care nurse, she’s faced trauma daily with no reprieve as the pandemic set it.

She continued to save lives as wave after wave of infection swept through the country, leaving her on the frontline in a battle against death. And through it all Riana Hellerle was going through her own private hell, waiting to see if justice would be served.

Five years ago, the 55-year-old mom of two walked into a police station in her hometown of Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, to lay charges against her stepfather for sexually abusing her as a child.

For 44 years Riana had felt like she was suffocating in silence but on 8 March this year she finally had the opportunity to stand up in court and tell the world how Frederik “Frik” Klaasen had started molesting her when she was 11 years old.

“The trauma inflicted on me as a child never, ever goes away. People tell me I’m strong for doing this. I’m not. I just knew I had to do it or I’d never be free,” she says.

Klaasen (82) was recently sentenced to five years in jail for indecent assault and Riana felt relief wash over her.

She says while the case was in progress, a pastor known to both her and Klaasen contacted her, requesting her to drop the case. “He said, ‘Frik’s old, he’s sickly’. I told him, ‘I was young and vulnerable’.”

RIANA, who’s the eldest of three daughters, was five when her parents divorced.