By Krissy Moreau
Police have revealed the Waimate man who raped and murdered a hitchhiker from the Czech Republic picked her up at Omarama and attacked her just half an hour's drive from Timaru, where she was to meet her sister.
The murder of Dagma Pytlickova has made headlines all over the world, but it is being felt keenly in the Central Otago town of Cromwell, where she worked as a vineyard hand.
Known as "Dasha" to her many friends, the hitchhiker loved the picturesque landscapes around Cromwell. where she picked grapes in various vineyards.
Grant Rolston of Vinewise Viticulture was a boss of Dasha’s, and says her workmates are distraught.
“Her workmates are deeply distraught, and they're just so saddened by it and would like to let the family know that they are really feeling for them,” he says.
The 31-year-old Czech national asked her boss for nine days off work to hitchhike to Timaru and visit loved ones.
Instead of meeting her sister and friends, Dasha was picked up by Jason Frandi.
The sexual predator abducted the 31-year old and raped her, before cutting her throat in a remote forestry block near Waimate.
Her bag/backpack was found in Frandi's car.
The murder been widely reported in the Czech Republic, but because of a law preventing victims of violent crime from being named, she has been labelled "Dagma P".
Tourism New Zealand says while crimes of such a serious nature are a rare occurrence in New Zealand, it is impossible to predict the impact this may have internationally.
And while the impact may be unknown, Mr Rolston says tourists are constantly being warned about the dangers of hitch-hiking.
“[We’re] always telling them not to hitch-hike especially females on their own, I’ve actively said that to a lot of people for a long time cause every now and again one of these nutters does crop up,” he says.
When they do crop up it puts New Zealand in the spotlight, for all the wrong reasons.
3 News
source: newshub archive
