Carona amiga?

Uma turista, acredita-se que alemã, foi encontrada morta in New Plymouth, depois de ser vista pedindo carona. Ela chegou a New Plymouth depois de ter pego carona e estava em busca de uma nova carona para chegar ao seu destino (por enquanto, incerto e não sabido). A polícia não divulgou, talvez até não tenha, a identidade da jovem, que especula-se ter 25 anos. O assassinato da jovem turista, um dos crimes que citei ontem, gerou uma discussão sobre se ainda é seguro pedir carona na Nova Zelândia - uma prática comum, em especial, pelos mochileiros.

Várias pessoas e agências se manifestaram desde o ocorrido e é quase unânime que SIM, pedir carona na NZ é seguro. Mas, todos alertam que é preciso se tomar alguns cuidados. O alerta é válido, especialmente, para mulheres, que não devem pedir carona quando estão sozinhas. Segundo um os "conselheiros", pelo fato de estar sozinha, a figura do sexo feminino pode se deparar com situações que não está preparada para reagir ou garantir sua segurança.

O The New Zealand Herald publicou hoje uma lista dos caroneiros assassinados. Aí vai a lista (desculpa, mas vai em inglês mesmo):

HITCHHIKERS (caroneiros) KILLED IN NZ

Jennifer Hargreaves
The 17-year-old was strangled beside the road in Patumahoe, South Auckland, in December 2001 soon after setting out from Papakura to a family reunion in Invercargill. Her killer, one-armed Shane Hoko, who was on parole for his part in a home invasion at the time, was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Lisa Blakie
The 20-year-old missed her bus from Christchurch to Greymouth and decided to hitchhike last February. Timothy David Taylor picked her up on the outskirts of Christchurch, stabbed her eight times and strangled her to death. Her body was pulled from the Porter River four days later, weighted down with a 104kg boulder. Taylor was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Mona Blades
The 18-year-old was hitchhiking from Hamilton to Hastings on May 31,1975, when she got into an orange Datsun 120Y stationwagon on the Napier-Taupo road and disappeared without trace. One of three suspects investigated at the time has since died and nobody has been charged with her murder.

Craig Merryweather
The 20-year-old business student from Massey University was hitching to Queenstown in August 1987. He was picked up at Picton by three men in a stolen car and later shot in Lindis Pass. His body was found buried in a shallow grave there two years later and his killers imprisoned.

Jennifer Beard
The 25-year-old from Wales was visiting the South Island to meet her fiance and go tramping. Her body was found under the Haast River bridge on January 19, 1970, and her murder remains unsolved. A prime suspect died in 2003.