New Zealand and crime

The horrific murder of Czech tourist Dagmar Pytlickova has once again called into question New Zealand's reputation as a safe haven for overseas travellers.

Miss Pytlickova, who had been in New Zealand since January and recently working on a vineyard in Cromwell, was abducted by Jason Frandi while hitchhiking between Cromwell and Fairlie. Frandi murdered Miss Pytlickova, who was travelling to meet her sister, near Waimate and then took his own life.

New Zealand has long been considered one of the safest countries in the world in which to travel. Travel websites heap praise on our lack of serious crime and its welcoming, friendly, laid-back residents.

But when guests to our shores are subjected to any crime, let alone the atrocity Miss Pytlickova was forced to endure, we and those planning to visit New Zealand, are left to question just how safe this country really is.

The death prompted criminal watchdog, the Sensible Sentencing Trust, to urge our tourism industry to be up-front about the "high level of violence" in the country. Spokesman Garth McVicar said the tragedy provided further evidence that tourists were unaware of potential dangers.

"New Zealand is being promoted by all our various tourist industries as a clean, green, safe country, and that means tourists that come here have lowered their guard to a certain extent.

"We get tourists ringing us up and saying we just didn't realise what a high level of violence New Zealand culture has," Mr McVicar said.

He warned news of such tragic incidents spread quickly throughout the world and had the potential to destroy "a fantastic tourism industry".

Whenever New Zealand makes international headlines over such incidents - and one recalls the murders of Swedish tourists, Urban Hoglin and Heidi Paakkonen, on the Coromandel Peninsula in 1989 - there is a feeling of national shame and anger.

But in reality, such heinous crimes are rare in New Zealand.

Tourists are much more likely to be killed or injured in an accident on our roads, or misadventure in our mountains than be the target of serious crime while here.

According to New Zealand police statistics, 39 people were murdered last year and the majority were killed by a person known to the victim.

Compare that with Scotland - which has about 800,000 more people yet recorded 97 homicides in the year ending March 2011 - and this country's safety record begins to speak for itself.

Miss Pytlickova's abduction and murder have frightening similarities to an abduction attempt by Frandi in 2000 when he told police he wanted to rape the woman and then kill himself.

Last weekend, it appears Frandi became aware police were investigating him over allegations of child molestation which may have prompted his final crime.

The reality is Miss Pytlickova was unlikely to have been specifically targeted, but simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Circumstance led to her being on the roadside seeking a lift when Frandi, apparently on the hunt for a victim, happened to pass by.

It could easily have been the daughter of a New Zealand family who became Frandi's victim.

Hitchhiking was once considered an efficient and inexpensive way to get around New Zealand.

But, sadly, times have changed to the point where both hitchhikers and even those drivers who once stopped to offer a lift to hitchhikers now have second thoughts.

There have been instances where Joe Public, seemingly doing a good deed by offering a lift, has been attacked by would-be hitchhikers.

While hitchhiking is not illegal in this country, police do not recommend the practice, particularly to females travelling on their own.

New Zealand is promoted internationally as a relatively safe country in which to hitchhike but tourists are urged to take the same safety precautions they would in any other country.

Travel websites recommend that hitchhikers who feel unsafe or uncomfortable when given a lift ask the driver to pull over so they can get out of the vehicle.

If carrying a cellphone, they should text their whereabouts and the vehicle's licence plate number to a friend.

Given last weekend's tragedy, it is sound advice.