The Herald Online

Inspector November Filander said two men stoned, stabbed and robbed the couple, a 59-year-old man and a 57-year-old woman, of their jewellery and digital cameras yesterday morning.

A group of hikers found the couple tied up with their shoe laces and rushed them to hospital in serious condition.

Police choppers searched the area, but did not find the robbers. – Sapa

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By: afriscot	On: 2009/12/23 09:50:24 AM
There will be many more tourists to play with in 2010

By: Jadles	On: 2009/12/23 11:42:24 AM
Brandon Huntley may have had a point hey? This will support his case!

By: powerball	On: 2009/12/23 01:04:07 PM
The score…10000 to 1 – this is just the semi finals….wait until next year in the “finals” they are just going to have a feast – and whats SA going to do about it…..nothing!!!

By: OwlRun	On: 2009/12/23 03:45:56 PM
Terrible. I feel so bad for unsuspecting tourists when they get targeted (not that it's any less upsetting when it's locals who are attacked.) When friends ask me if I would recommend that they visit South Africa, I always say "well, if you feel you must, be very careful - but I sure wouldn't go."

By: sellym	On: 2009/12/23 05:38:54 PM
Now why would my fellow Cannucks wanna leave this paradise to go hiking in that hellhole. WHY??? Soccer World Cup will forever wipe S.A off the map as a tourist destination. Bigscreen TV coverage here will be much safer and a damn lot cheaper!

By: OwlRun	On: 2009/12/23 07:31:34 PM
I agree with you 100%, sellym.

By: tenpastten	On: 2009/12/23 07:58:38 PM
The same scumbags keep holding this country back through sheer dumbness and selfish stupidity.Tourism equals jobs!

By: Mo-by	On: 2009/12/23 08:51:47 PM
Hiking tourists attacked, 3 year old raped, Shaik is not dying (gasp), what is this country coming to . . . . . oh wait, this is just an average day because we are governed by a bunch of morons with an average IQ of about 80, or am I being too generous........?

By: mistral	On: 2009/12/23 09:00:26 PM
I've told several friends here in Vancouver that visiting SA is a BAD idea. They couldn't grasp how violently different crime is over there. Nothing less than sitting ducks...and here's a case in point. Mercifully, my friends eventually decided to go tour Brazil instead.

By: gr63herald	On: 2009/12/23 09:50:29 PM
I SEE MYSELF AS ONE OF THOSE FEW WHO BELIEVE IN ACTION AND NOT JUST TALK, TALK, TALK. IF THE LOCAL, STATE, AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DO NOT FIX THE PROBLEMS WITH CRIME, THEN THEY ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM. NEXT, THE ONLY TIME OR PERIOD OF SOUTH AFRICAN HISTORY WHEN PEOPLE WERE S--T SCARED AND THOUGHT TWICE TO COMMIT ANY CRIME WAS DURING THE APARTIET PERIOD. DON'T GET ME WRONG, I IN NO WAY SUPPORTED THE PREVIOUS WHITE GOVERNMENT'S IRON FIST AGAINST NONE WHITES. BUT WHERE CRIME IS CONCERNED, IT WAS THE ONLY PERIOD WHEN MOST SOUTH AFRICANS FELT SAFE. EVEN NOW BLACK ARE KILLING BLACKS, SO MY COMMENT IS IN NO WAY RACIAL. LET'S JUST BE HONEST ABOUT THIS FACT. NEXT, I AM AN AMBASSADOR FOR SOUTH AFRICA PROMOTING THE MANY OPPORTUNITIES THAT THE COUNTRY HAS TO OFFER. I DAILY SPEAK TO PEOPLE ABOUT SOUTH AFRICA'S CRIME AND SAFETY, AND EACH TIME I FIND REASONS AND SOMETIMES EXCUSES TO SAY THAT SOUTH AFRICA IS THE PLACE TO GO TO, AS IT HAS SO MUCH TO OFFER. I EVEN TELL PEOPLE TO INVEST IN SOUTH AFRICA TO CREATE EMPLOYMENT. BUT EACH TIME I READ THE NEWS IT SEEMS IT JUST A LOST CAUSE. NOTHING SEEMS TO CHANGE, PEOPLE JUST SEEM TO EXCEPT THE WAY THINGS ARE AND LIFE WITH THE PEOBLEMS AND STRUGGLE EACH DAY TO SURVIVE AND JUST WORRY ABOUT THEIR OWN PROBLEMS. WELL IF THAT'S THE WAY PEOPLE CAN ONLY THINK, THAT'S HOW THEY WILL LIVE. THERE ARE NO EXCUSES, BUT THERE IS HOPE! LET'S HOPE WE BECOME PART OF THE LEGACY LIKE THE MOST OF AFRICA. WE ARE NOT BLACK, COLOURED, WHITE, INDIAN, CHRISTIAN, MUSLIM, HINDU, KHOZA, ZULU, OR WHATEVER WE WISH TO CALL IT. VERY SIMPLE, WE ARE SOUTH AFRICAN!

By: mistral	On: 2009/12/24 12:41:42 AM
NICE ONE, SA. Here's some really positive headlining in our local Vancouver Sun. http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Canadian+couple+stabbed+bound+robbed+while+hiking+South+Africa/2374367/story.html

By: mistral	On: 2009/12/24 12:47:46 AM
Here's the story as it appeared in our local Vancouver paper. The victims were both former SA's, nogal. Bet they're really happy they've left once again. The biggest joke is the quote by Alan Winde at the end...the only thing that matters a damn to him is the effect it may have on the WC. HERMANUS, South Africa — A Toronto couple hiking in South Africa was stoned, stabbed, tied up with shoelaces and left bleeding in a remote area during a robbery, the couple said Wednesday from their hospital beds. On Tuesday, two men robbed Toronto residents Martin Stern, 59, and his wife Janet, 57, of an engagement ring, watches, cellphones and a digital camera. Martin Stern, a financial consultant, told local reporters they were hiking and passed two men walking in the opposite direction. "I said good morning, and they nodded," Stern said, speaking from his hospital bed at Hermanus Medi-Clinic. Then the men ran up behind the couple and began an unprovoked attack, he said. "The next thing we knew we were being stabbed in the back. I was stabbed next to my kidney, and they stabbed Janet in the arm," said Stern. "They pushed us to the ground and picked up rocks." Stern said he and his wife relied on their faith to get through the traumatic attack. "Janet said to me in Hebrew: 'We're going to pray to God,' and then they left us." "I think they were drugged up," he said. "They were completely senseless — there was no rationale." Hospital official Margaret Smith told Canwest News Service that the two are in stable condition. Police said the Canadians were on a trail in Kleinrivier Mountains, close to the South Africa's southern coastline, and were found by hikers. "They were overpowered by two suspects about two hours earlier and left there," Insp. November Filander told the South African Press Association. Reports said the pair lost a great deal of blood before they were found. They were airlifted to hospital by a helicopter that had been in the area to retrieve the body of another hiker. Photos of the couple taken Wednesday in their hospital beds showed a number of injuries visible on Martin Stern, including a heavily bandaged right wrist and a large cut on his nose. Janet Stern was covered in a hospital gown, but showed a bloodied lip in photos taken by the Cape Times and provided to Canwest News Service. The couple, originally from South Africa but living in the Toronto area since 1986, had taken an early-morning hike up the Fernkloof nature reserve on the mountain, which towers above the seaside holiday town of Hermanus, the Cape Times reported. A local fire chief, Riaan Jacobs, said the two had lost "quite a lot of blood" and were not able to walk or properly communicate. "We dropped a medic down who stabilized them on the mountain . . . they couldn't move, and were put on to stretchers. "They were in quite a lot of shock, and in a lot of pain." Canadian Consular officials at the High Commission in Pretoria said they were aware of the stabbing of two Canadian citizens in South Africa, but would not be able to provide additional information because of the Privacy Act. "Consular officials are actively providing consular assistance and support to them," said Lisa Monette, a spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs and International Trade. The attack was immediately condemned by local tourism officials, who were worried about negative publicity, with the country prepared to host soccer's World Cup. "We must not allow these kinds of attacks or crimes against anybody in our country, specifically because the eyes of the world are on us at the moment, as we are gearing to host one of the biggest events in the world," Western Cape Tourism MEC Alan Winde told Eye Witness News.

By: Jadles	On: 2009/12/24 08:25:44 AM

By: Jadles	On: 2009/12/24 08:26:52 AM
I'm starting to understand why the NP 'White' government opted for apartheid - I don't want them near me either these days...