A Norwegian tourist who loves court cases is in South Africa to attend the murder trial of Maartens van der Merwe in Virginia, in the Free State.
Hans Christian Haugen, 82, was in the public gallery in the circuit court in Virginia on Monday, with his South African pen-friend Lenie Engelbrecht, waiting for the start of the trial, Beeld reported.
He understood every word being spoken, because he taught himself to speak Afrikaans 26 years ago, after finding a book of Afrikaans poetry in a library in Oslo, the newspaper wrote.
He subsequently completed an Afrikaans language course, and had since visited South Africa about 20 times.
He told Beeld that Norwegian and Afrikaans had many similar-sounding words, and that he “finds it enriching” to attend court proceedings.
Haugen said that many years ago, as an employee at a brewery in Oslo, he became interested in newspaper reports about trials, and had since attended more than 8000 in Norway.
In November 2011, he found out that Maartens van der Merwe’s trial would be held this week, and it gripped his imagination.
He said the South African trial would be the first big trial he attended in this country.
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