British tourist subjected to 14-hour rape ordeal in park

A British tourist in South Africa was raped repeatedly while being held for 14 hours by a gang who shot dead a man when he tried to help her.

Two men were being questioned by detectives over the attack in the Kruger National Park, which happened weeks after another British tourist was shot dead in a robbery in the province of KwaZulu Natal. Two more men are being sought for the rape.

Last night, the Foreign Office was reviewing its advice to Britons visiting the region, which has also been the scene of several fatal road accidents involving British citizens. Visitors have been warned to take care in South Africa; the latest incident is the 28th attack on a foreign tourist in Mpuma-langa province.

Police said the victim, aged 29, and her South African boyfriend, aged 26, were approached by the gang at lunchtime on Saturday while they were parked at Long Tom Pass, a remote beauty spot in the Kruger National Park. They were forced into the back of their Toyota Venture at gunpoint and driven around during the night. The woman was raped by the men while her companion was tied up.

Mary Martins-Englebrecht, a spokeswoman for the South African police, said the couple had managed to escape when one of the gang lost control of the vehicle and the car overturned. That was at about 4am, about 140 miles from the scene of their abduction and 17 miles from the town of Barberton, near the Swaziland border in the east of the country.

A passing motorist, Domingo Chamber, 34, from Germiston, who had stopped to help, was shot in the head, allegedly by one of the group, who then fled the scene. Mr Chamber died at the scene.

The woman has received counselling, as well as an Aids test and anti-HIV drugs. Her boyfriend, who was stabbed in the leg, was treated in hospital. The couple are now with her boyfriend's family in his hometown of Sabie.

The woman's boyfriend spotted two of the attackers when he was being taken to hospital and they were arrested. A wallet and mobile phone, believed to belong to the victim's boyfriend, were recovered from one suspect.

The men, aged 20 and 29, one from Nhlazatshe in Mpumalanga and the other from Zimbabwe, were taken to hospital with bullet wounds and head injuries. They have been charged with armed robbery and are expected to appear before magistrates today.

Ms Martins-Englebrecht said police might bring further charges of kidnapping, rape, murder and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm against the men.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are repeating our warnings about vigilance in certain parts of South Africa, particularly in KwaZulu Natal, where there have been incidents of hijacking and robbery. We have not, as yet, changed our South Africa travel advice, but advice such as this is under constant review."

About 300,000 Britons visit South Africa each year, attracted by its spectacular wildlife and beaches as well as a favourable exchange rate. The number of foreign visitors in the first seven months of this year was up 7.2 per cent to 3.5 million compared with the same period last year, the most recent figures show.

Last month, Diane Conway, 60, from Warminster, Wiltshire, who was on a safari holiday with her husband, was shot dead by a robber who burst into their hotel bedroom at Pilgrims Rest, a township in KwaZulu Natal on the edge of the Kruger National Park. Her husband was also shot but survived. A man has been charged over the incident.

The rape attack has been condemned by opposition political parties and civic groups, which have implored the President, Thabo Mbeki, to invest more in combating crime.

Cases of abuse against women and children are rising in South Africa, with reports of children as young as two months old being raped.