ZA: Extreme-Crime Travel: Tourists vow never to set foot in SA again...

[Dutch] Tourist tells of rape ordeal

Dutch woman on antiretrovirals after horrifying ordeal in four-star hotel

Apr 25, 2010 12:00 AM
By Buyekezwa Makwabe

A Dutch tourist has vowed never to set foot in South Africa again - unless it is to give evidence against the man who gagged, robbed and raped her twice in the Cape Winelands.

The hotel said she was negligent with her own safety by not properly locking her room door Yvonne Petronella Den Hollander, 62, is suing the four-star Lord Charles Hotel for failing to keep her safe and is claiming R1.7-million in damages for the terrifying ordeal she endured.

Den Hollander, a divorced mother of two, was brutalised within hours of checking into the luxury hotel. She was put on antiretrovirals after the attack, and underwent psychological counselling for trauma.

Two years after she was raped and robbed of R3600 at the hotel on March 9 2008:

• Police have yet to arrest a suspect in the case;
  
  
• The hotel says it is not liable to pay damages because guests signed a disclaimer protecting it against claims for loss, damage or injury; and
  
  
• Den Hollander is being asked to put up R200000 as security for court costs before her lawsuit can proceed against the hotel, because she is a foreigner.

The high cost could derail her case.

In court papers, she accused the hotel of negligence and failure to put in place measures that could have prevented her ordeal.

Speaking to the Sunday Times this week through her lawyer, Luuk Rijnen, she said she would never again set foot in Africa, except to face her attacker in court.

The trip to South Africa was a dream come true after she had saved up to pay for an affordable 17-day holiday package which included a trek in the Drakensberg mountains, a visit to Swaziland, a trip to the Kruger National Park and KwaZulu-Natal.

It was shortly after arriving at the Lord Charles Hotel, ahead of a tour of the Cape Winelands, that the trip turned into a nightmare.

In the statement to the police after the incident, she said she was convinced she would be killed by the rapist.

"He made me lie on the bed with my face down. He took the telephone wire. With this he tied my ankles. I was lying on my belly with my hands and feet tightly tied to my back.

"I remember that he made this quite tight. After this he put blankets and pillows over me, so I was afraid now he would shoot me because of all this noise-insulating material."

Her assailant had been hiding behind the bathroom door when Den Hollander returned to her room after a few drinks with her tour group.

The hotel, however, is defending the claim and in turn said Den Hollander was negligent with her own safety by not properly locking her room door despite written warnings.

The hotel said it had taken "reasonable steps to guard against harm to guests by among other things, engaging the services of an independent contractor".

Group chief executive officer for Command Security Services, Shaffie Mowzer, said on Friday that what had happened was both unfortunate and tragic but the company could not comment.

"The case was investigated by the police and there was never any finger pointed at the company or at the work we do."

The hotel further stated in court papers that Den Hollander had, upon arrival at the hotel, signed a disclaimer absolving it of any liability. It read: "The Lord Charles accepts no responsibility for any loss, damage or injury that may occur on our premises."

The hotel has applied to the court to compel her to pay R200000 in security for costs.

Rijnen said Den Hollander broke down when he told her about the R200000 security required.

But Den Hollander has vowed to fight on.

"She says it was only after realising that, if she stopped now without fighting back, she would feel raped twice.

"She has now pulled herself together and says she refuses to be bullied," Rijnen said.

Den Hollander told the Sunday Times via e-mail: "Did they change anything? Or do they just try to push me away so no one finds out how unsafe it is?"

Western Cape police spokesman, Warrant Officer November Filander, was unable to comment on the police investigation on Friday.

» » » » [Sunday Times]

Ex-Ottawan slain in South Africa

Resort owner had long career as an engineer

By Zev Singer , The Ottawa Citizen
March 5, 2010

The Killing Fields: Farm Attacks in South Africa: “A roadside memorial made by farmers, near Machado, Limpopo.” -- [Caroline Suzman: Gallery] [The Secret Race War you won't read about in any World Cup brochure]

A Canadian living in South Africa has been murdered in his home. But homicide is so common there, says his son, that he holds out no hope the crime will ever be solved.

Ron Smith, 70, who grew up in Ottawa, was found tied to a chair at his house near Bela Bela, 170 kilometres north of Johannesburg, on Monday. He’d been shot in the leg and was left to bleed to death, said his son, Jonathan Smith.

“Your life is not worth more than a cellphone,” he said. “And that’s exactly what they took from my father. They took a cellphone and a laptop.”

South Africa has one of the world’s highest homicide rates, with 37 murders per 100,000 people each year — nearly 20 times the rate in Canada. More than 18,000 people are murdered there every year.

Jonathan Smith said that his father, who worked on projects with the African National Congress before the fall of apartheid, was very supportive of the dismantling of the segregated, white-ruled political system and worked hard to improve the country. What happened to him was “horrific,” he said.

“He was basically tortured and murdered. He’s five-six and 70 years old.”

Smith said he will try to collect all the information he can about his father’s death, but he has low expectations that anything will ever come of the investigation.

“A lot of this is just a bigger problem, the madness of South Africa, which I don’t think many Canadians realize.”

» » » » [Excerpts: White Refugees]

Two German Tourists robbed in Stellenbosch; German Couple and Romanian Tourists Robbed in Fernkloof Nature Reserve, Hermanus

Malani Venter, Die Burger
2009-11-26 07:39

Two German tourists who have been visiting South Africa for ten years, were robbed early Tuesday morning in their four star guesthouse, of belongings and thousands of rands.

Irrespective of the security measures at the four star Laibach Vineyards Lodge, Mr. Michael Wienands (49) and his wife Michaela (45), were robbed by three armed men wearing balaclava's. They were not hurt. One man climbed in through a window and opened the door for the others.

The couple woke up and started screaming.

» » » » [Excerpt: White Refugess]

Robbers Attack [British] Tourists at Guest Lodge - Rape Two Women

Beeld
Sep 23 2008 10:00:51:350PM - (SA)

Four elderly Dutch tourists were shot at enroute to their Marloth Park holiday cottage near the Kruger Wildlife Reserve and robbed of about R100,000’s worth of electronic equipment and personal documents. Their rental car was hijacked and they were left stranded at the roadway in the pitch-dark. The attack happened at 20:30. [ZA Top 20 Dangerous Travel Destinations]

Six armed robbers held six guest hostage on Saturday night, at the Hippo Lodge, and raped two women.

“We have been living here for 13 years and this is the first time something like this has happened,” said Mr. Geof Maud, owner of the Hippo Lodge, yesterday.

The six family members, of which the daughter and husband live in England, visited the lodge for the second time this year, and were visiting in the lodge, when the robbers stuck a gun through the window. Another one broke open the door with a brick.

“The robbers tied up the men and stole two cellphones and jewelry. Just one of the robbers raped the daughter and her fathers friend.”

Mr. Maud was still very emotional about the attack, and said he has not been able to sleep for the past two nights.

“Just imagine what the victims must be going through.”

He said he is not aware of how the robbers got onto the premises, because it is surrounded by electified fencing and alarms.

» » » » [Excerpt: White Refugess]

How Tourists are Robbed from the Airport

25 November 2009
Sowetan

Victoria's Smurfit's taxi was shot at in Strand Street, Cape Town, by a gang. Police say the shooting was likely to have been part of an initiation ceremony, dubbed 'Kill a Tourist' Day. ['It was kill a tourist day in South Africa - and we were in the way']

LAST month, three robbers who pretended to be police officers robbed four Spanish tourists.

The tourists had changed money at the airport and were on their way to the Hilton Hotel in Sandton when three men in a blue Ford Fairmont used a blue light to pull the driver over after the Marlboro turn-off on the N3. They stole about R28400.

In September, US Agency for International Development employee Thobekile Finger and an airport shuttle service driver were attacked as they returned from the airport. The men demanded their valuable items.

In May, four men were arrested for allegedly posing as police officers and robbing people. The men flashed a fake police badge at their victims, and then asked them to pull over. They told their victims they were from the “tourism and drug control unit”, and needed to search their bags.

» » » » [Excerpt: White Refugees]

Diplomats Fury at SA Rape Bungle

Noelene Barbeau, Sunday Tribune
September 16, 2007

The French and Belgian governments are incensed at how the South African Police Services botched investigations into the rape of a French tourist and an attack on her Belgian boyfriend on the Durban beachfront in December last year.

The two suspects walked free this week. This is after police had originally received accolades for the speedy arrest after the incident during the International Paralympic Committee Swimming World Championship last year.

Now, apart from the lambasting the police got in court this week, the consuls said the victims had not even been informed that the accused - arrested within 36 hours of the incident - had been set free.

This follows months of delays arising from police not appointing an investigating officer, not following up on DNA analysis or taking statements from other police officers.

» » » » [Excerpts: White Refugees]

Could The 2010 World Cup Be A Disaster In the Making?

Jeffrey Hoffman, HuffingtonPost
Posted: January 14, 2010 09:15 AM

As you probably know, the World Cup is scheduled for South Africa in June of this year. Many present and former residents see this as a potential recipe for disaster, and for good reason. Most would agree that three of the major venues, Johannesburg, Durban, and Capetown are cities where lawless mobs run rampant and threaten both classes on a regular daily basis. If you Google the [Cape] Times, you will be shocked to find numerous stories every day about all different kinds of good and decent individuals, whose lives have been tragically cut short by crazed lunatics who never ever know their victims... and sadly, never will.

Consider one of these many tragedies, former Johannesburg businessman Sheldon "Sheldie" Cohen [PDF], shot dead in 2008, while waiting for his 16-year-old son, Noah, to finish soccer practice.

Cohen, the former chief executive of Amalgamated Appliances and a Harvard Business School graduate, was murdered around 8pm outside the Balfour Alexandra Football Club, in Highlands North. He was talking to his father, Jack, on his cellphone when fatally shot in the neck. Realizing something was horribly wrong, Jack leapt into his car and raced to the club. Sheldie's killer was one of three men who seconds before had tried to take the cellphone of another parent, Joss Miller who was waiting outside the clubhouse in her car.

Clearly, soccer...or football (as it is known outside of the U.S.) fans worldwide need to know the risks that they run in trying to have a safe trip to the Cup matches. Does this really sound like a place to stage the most watched sporting event in the world? It wasn't even a safe place for Sheldie Cohen to watch his son's soccer practice.

» » » » [Excerpts: White Refugees]

'World Cup [Tourists] will spread Aids across the globe'

Daniel Sanderson, News of the World.UK
25/04/2010

The new leader of South Africa's white supremacists last night warned that the World Cup in his country will spread Aids around the globe.

Steyn van Ronge - who took over the far-right Afrikaner Resistance party after the murder of founder Eugene Terreblanche three weeks ago - chillingly claimed thousands of fans could become infected by the country's prostitutes.

"South Africa will export Aids to the world," said Van Ronge. "Six million people here have it and more than 40,000 prostitutes will be imported for the World Cup.

"So if football fans coming here don't have high moral standards, they will go home and Aids will explode to the highest level ever seen. Millions of people will die."

Van Ronge, 55, also snapped out a stark warning for England fans aiming to camp out to save money. "Crime in this country is totally out of control. There is no law and order," he said. "Fans must be prepared for it and not ignore the situation.

"I can say it will escalate when people from overseas come here. So don't camp - it is not safe. You will become a victim."

Comment by Boycott 2010 World Cup:

Mr. Terre'blanche did not advocate for a return to white rule by any means necessary. He advocated for secession, for all tribes to achieve their own self-rule. He supported the Abathembu tribe's Secession claims. The AWB only want a volkstaat, based upon Boer identity -- just like Scotland do, based on Scottish identity.

Unlike the ANC's supremacism, the AWB only want a volkstaat where whites rule themselves; they fully supported all of South Africa's tribes to their own self-rule too. What is supremacist about that?

Furthermore they advocate that their members not miscegenate with other races..... a policy adhered to by the British and most other Royal Families... When last did you refer to the Queen as a White Supremacist?

Is impartiality a crime in England, like it is in SA?

» » » » [News of the World]

Crime puts tourists off South Africa

Charles Starmer-Smith, Telegraph.UK
Published: 2:27PM GMT 02 Feb 2008

[Protest Sign: Land of Opportunity for Murderers, Rapists and Thieves. Lone Smallholders Protestor Against Crime] “For the World Cup, they give a visa to everybody.” -- Khola, the Ghanaian[Magnet for Immigration: 3 - 6 million Illegal Immigrants in South Africa]

One of the world's great holiday destinations is being marred by a wave of violence

South Africa's spiralling crime figures may have deterred more than 22 million tourists from visiting the country over the past five years, its tourism minister said this week.

Marthinus van Schalkwyk said government research showed that more than a third of potential tourists had cited safety concerns as a reason for not visiting South Africa since 2002.

The government has set itself a target of 10 million tourists a year by the time the country stages the football World Cup in 2010. Currently it claims to attract just over eight million visitors.

"Our research has indicated that, while South Africa is in many respects an attractive tourist destination, fear of crime could be a possible deterrent to potential visitors," Mr van Schalkwyk said. "Crime is an issue we have to deal with if we want to reach our target."

» » » » [Excerpts: White Refugees]

» » [SA's Robbers with Blue Lights & Badges...]
» » [Canadian Tortured & Murdered on Limpopo Farm]
» » [Death Threats for Colonialist (White) World Cup Fans]
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» » [Crime Olympics: ZA wins Gold In Rapes & Silver in Murder]
» » [S.African Violence Strikes Canadians Twice in December...]
» » [SA Most Dangerous Country in World, ahead of Iraq & Afghanistan]
» » [ZA Top 20 Dangerous Travel Destinations: Beware: SA is Violent.. ]
» » [‘SA not ready’ 2010 Terror: ‘Intelligence Services woefully unprepared’]
» » [ZA Top 20 # 2:... UK, US, AU et al warn citizens: “Exercise Highest Degree of Caution”]