-    if (PyUnicode_Check(source)) {
-        target = new wxString();
-        size_t len = PyUnicode_GET_SIZE(source);
-        if (len) {
-            PyUnicode_AsWideChar((PyUnicodeObject*)source, target->GetWriteBuf(len), len);
-            target->UngetWriteBuf();
-        }
-    } else {
-        // It is a string, get pointers to it and transform to unicode
-        char* tmpPtr; int tmpSize;
-        PyString_AsStringAndSize(source, &tmpPtr, &tmpSize);
-        target = new wxString(tmpPtr, *wxConvCurrent, tmpSize);
+    PyObject* uni = source;
+    if (PyString_Check(source)) {
+        uni = PyUnicode_FromObject(source);
+        if (PyErr_Occurred()) return NULL;
+    }
+    target = new wxString();
+    size_t len = PyUnicode_GET_SIZE(uni);
+    if (len) {
+        PyUnicode_AsWideChar((PyUnicodeObject*)uni, target->GetWriteBuf(len), len);
+        target->UngetWriteBuf(len);