/ 19 March 1999

SWIFT JUSTICE FOR TOURISTS?

THE police have proposed that a special court be set up to hear cases involving crimes against tourists, a spokesperson for the police crime prevention unit said on Thursday. Unit director Piet van Rensburg said perpetrators often get off free because victims are back in their own countries by the time the assailants appear in court, leaving no key witnesses to testify to the crime. The special court would attempt to hear cases before foreign visitors left South Africa, he said.