diff --git a/include/llvm/IR/Instructions.h b/include/llvm/IR/Instructions.h
index ff9254372ea..2571faf3836 100644
--- a/include/llvm/IR/Instructions.h
+++ b/include/llvm/IR/Instructions.h
@@ -876,7 +876,9 @@ public:
         ->getElementType();
   }
 
-  Type *getResultElementType() const { return getType()->getElementType(); }
+  Type *getResultElementType() const {
+    return cast<PointerType>(getType()->getScalarType())->getElementType();
+  }
 
   /// \brief Returns the address space of this instruction's pointer type.
   unsigned getAddressSpace() const {
diff --git a/lib/IR/Verifier.cpp b/lib/IR/Verifier.cpp
index bd9f3f3c3ea..e14f1036912 100644
--- a/lib/IR/Verifier.cpp
+++ b/lib/IR/Verifier.cpp
@@ -2462,8 +2462,7 @@ void Verifier::visitGetElementPtrInst(GetElementPtrInst &GEP) {
   Assert(ElTy, "Invalid indices for GEP pointer type!", &GEP);
 
   Assert(GEP.getType()->getScalarType()->isPointerTy() &&
-             cast<PointerType>(GEP.getType()->getScalarType())
-                     ->getElementType() == ElTy,
+             GEP.getResultElementType() == ElTy,
          "GEP is not of right type for indices!", &GEP, ElTy);
 
   if (GEP.getPointerOperandType()->isVectorTy()) {