A wife's fight with the police over their "dismal failure" to protect her from domestic violence goes to the Supreme Court of Appeal today. Receptionist Charmaine Naidoo, 42, is suing Police Minister Nathi Nhleko and a number of police officials for damages of R430,000.The minister is opposing the claim.Naidoo says when she turned to police for help they refused to assist. Instead they arrested her.She said she approached a Johannesburg police station in 2010 to lay a charge of domestic violence against her husband. Police refused to assist, telling her to get a protection order from a court.The next time she tried to open a case, she said the police invited her husband to lay a counter charge.When her husband arrived at the station, both of them were detained overnight.The Johannesburg High Court dismissed Naidoo's complaint after questioning her reliability as a witness and taking into account a withdrawal statement she made during the course of the violence.Though Naidoo eventually secured a protection order, this did not stop her husband from allegedly assaulting her months later.Naidoo wrote in court papers that her experience with the police had left her "shocked and traumatised" after the severe physical and emotional distress she had suffered.The Women's Legal Centre Trust, friends of the court in this case, said many women had a similar experience of the criminal justice system...