Court hears confessions of murder suspect brothers

ONE of the men accused of kidnapping, robbing and murdering Windhoek businessman Gero Schaum in early 2002 broke down in tears and cried about the senselessness of a killing that was motivated by money when he took a Police officer to the scene where Schaum was killed, according to testimony that was heard in the High Court last week.

“It’s for money; why?” murder, robbery and kidnapping suspect Chris Jones cried on February 22 2002 when he pointed out the scene where the 59-year-old Schaum was killed in the Brakwater area during the evening of February 14 2002, Chief Inspector Hermie van Zyl, who accompanied Jones to the scene, told Judge Sylvester Mainga in the High Court in Windhoek on Thursday last week. Van Zyl gave testimony on the pointings-out that Jones (29) made to him on that occasion, which was a day after Jones’s arrest.Jones, his younger brother, Ian Jones (27), a cousin of the two brothers, Magnum Smith (24), and the 39-year-old Johannes Gerhardus Pelser have all pleaded not guilty on all charges that they are facing in connection with Schaum’s death.Last week, though, formal confessions that both brothers made to Police officers shortly after their respective arrests in the weeks after Schaum had been shot dead, as well as the record of the pointing-out that Chris Jones did, were admitted as evidence in the trial.Both confessions implicate Ian Jones as having been the person who pulled the trigger of a pistol with which Schaum was shot twice in the head.However, the two brothers also appear to have tried to blame each other as having been the person that was in charge of events when the duo broke into Schaum’s house in Van Coller Street, Klein Windhoek, lay in wait for Schaum to return home, and thereafter kidnapped him in the boot of his car until he was killed in a riverbed in the Brakwater area.Judge Mainga allowed Ian Jones’s confession as evidence in the trial on Wednesday last week, after a trial within a trial on the admissibility of the statement.Jones had claimed the statement was made after the Police had forced him through assaults and threats to make a confession.Both brothers related in their confessions that while they were inside Schaum’s house, waiting for him to return home, they whiled away the time in one of the house’s bathrooms, eating cheese and polony.According to Ian Jones he had found a pistol in a wardrobe in Schaum’s bedroom.Once Schaum arrived home, he stated – referring to Schaum as “the deceased, Mr Schaum” – he did not manage to cock the pistol, so his brother gave instructions to him: “He said, give that thing to me, loaded it and returned it to me.He told me to go down the stairs and to gunpoint him.”Ian Jones continued: “I then said to him, no.But he threatened me to come down.And then Mr Schaum came up the stairs.I thought he would go to the study, so I jumped out and pointed the gun at him.”Schaum “looked at me in surprise,” Ian Jones related.Having startled Schaum, his brother grabbed Schaum, pushed him to the ground, and took his wallet from him, Ian Jones also stated.He told the Police that after he had found a key that looked like that of a safe, he managed to open the safe in the house.Inside, he found three or four bags of cash.Schaum told him that it was between N$470 000 and N$500 000.He took the money, and he and his brother took Schaum to his car, forced him into the boot, and they drove off.They eventually arrived in the Brakwater area – he was driving, and his brother had given directions to get there – where they found that Schaum had untied his hands, which had been bound with a necktie, Ian Jones stated.”Chris took the pistol and I tied his hands again,” he related.”Chris then said, we can’t leave any evidence behind.He then said to me I must walk down the river, he would follow soon.It was not far away and then I said to Mr Schaum he must lie down.Chris then told me to shoot him.I had a jacket in which I held the pistol.”Until today I don’t personally know whether I would really have shot him, I don’t know.I aimed the gun at him.Mr Schaum kicked me.When he kicked me, I just heard a shot going off.And I reloaded the gun.Chris then said to me I must make sure that the guy is dead.I looked away and pulled the trigger.”A video recording showing Jones making his confession has also been handed in as evidence before the court.It shows that at this point of making the statement, Ian Jones fell silent for a few long seconds, as he looked away to his left, staring at the floor.According to Chris Jones’s confession, though, he had remained behind at Schaum’s vehicle while Ian Jones walked off with Schaum – or “the uncle”, as Chris Jones referred to him.”I went to the back wheel and sat down.I covered my ears.He said he fired two shots but I only heard one shot and he said to me that two shots had been fired,” Chris Jones stated in his confession.While Ian Jones had told the Police that his brother had forced him at Schaum’s house to go ahead and hold Schaum at gunpoint, Chris Jones in turn told the Police that his brother had threatened him that if he were to say anything about the incident, “he will look for me and then he will shoot me just like he shot that guy”.Chris Jones’s appearance when he made the confession was described as “childlike and shy” by Chief Inspector Manfred Sass, who took down the statement from him on February 21 2002.Inspector Peter Oelofse in turn described Ian Jones as looking shocked when he made a confession to the Inspector on March 10 2002.Chris Jones broke down in tears twice when he did the pointings-out to Chief Inspector Van Zyl, the officer testified.The second time was at the alleged murder scene.The first was when Jones saw a leather jacket that belonged to Schaum, with a clearly visible bloodstain and bullet holes in it, where he had told the officer he and his brother had thrown it onto a butchery’s roof in Olympia in Windhoek, where they also abandoned Schaum’s car after the shooting.Back at the scene of the killing, after he had shot Schaum, his brother stopped him before they drove away from the scene, Ian Jones had told Oelofse.He told the Policeman: “He then said to me, now we are brothers.And he took me and he hugged me.”The two brothers are remaining in Police custody until their trial continues from October 10.Smith and Pelser, who are accused of having helped Ian Jones get rid of some evidence connected to the incident and to get over the border into South Africa, are free on bail.Van Zyl gave testimony on the pointings-out that Jones (29) made to him on that occasion, which was a day after Jones’s arrest.Jones, his younger brother, Ian Jones (27), a cousin of the two brothers, Magnum Smith (24), and the 39-year-old Johannes Gerhardus Pelser have all pleaded not guilty on all charges that they are facing in connection with Schaum’s death.Last week, though, formal confessions that both brothers made to Police officers shortly after their respective arrests in the weeks after Schaum had been shot dead, as well as the record of the pointing-out that Chris Jones did, were admitted as evidence in the trial.Both confessions implicate Ian Jones as having been the person who pulled the trigger of a pistol with which Schaum was shot twice in the head.However, the two brothers also appear to have tried to blame each other as having been the person that was in charge of events when the duo broke into Schaum’s house in Van Coller Street, Klein Windhoek, lay in wait for Schaum to return home, and thereafter kidnapped him in the boot of his car until he was killed in a riverbed in the Brakwater area.Judge Mainga allowed Ian Jones’s confession as evidence in the trial on Wednesday last week, after a trial within a trial on the admissibility of the statement.Jones had claimed the statement was made after the Police had forced him through assaults and threats to make a confession.Both brothers related in their confessions that while they were inside Schaum’s house, waiting for him to return home, they whiled away the time in one of the house’s bathrooms, eating cheese and polony.According to Ian Jones he had found a pistol in a wardrobe in Schaum’s bedroom.Once Schaum arrived home, he stated – referring to Schaum as “the deceased, Mr Schaum” – he did not manage to cock the pistol, so his brother gave instructions to him: “He said, give that thing to me, loaded it and returned it to me.He told me to go down the stairs and to gunpoint him.”Ian Jones continued: “I then said to him, no.But he threatened me to come down.And then Mr Schaum came up the stairs.I thought he would go to the study, so I jumped out and pointed the gun at him.”Schaum “looked at me in surprise,” Ian Jones related.Having startled Schaum, his brother grabbed Schaum, pushed him to the ground, and took his wallet from him, Ian Jones also stated.He told the Police that after he had found a key that looked like that of a safe, he managed to open the safe in the house.Inside, he found three or four bags of cash.Schaum told him that it was between N$470 000 and N$500 000.He took the money, and he and his brother took Schaum to his car, forced him into the boot, and they drove off.They eventually arrived in the Brakwater area – he was driving, and his brother had given directions to get there – where they found that Schaum had untied his hands, which had been bound with a necktie, Ian Jones stated.”Chris took the pistol and I tied his hands again,” he related.”Chris then said, we can’t leave any evidence behind.He then said to me I must walk down the river, he would follow soon.It was not far away and then I said to Mr Schaum he must lie down.Chris then told me to shoot him.I had a jacket in which I held the pistol.”Until today I don’t personally know whether I would really have shot him, I don’t know.I aimed the gun at him.Mr Schaum kicked me.When he kicked me, I just heard a shot going off.And I reloaded the gun.Chris then said to me I must make sure that the guy is dead.I looked away and pulled the trigger.”A video recording showing Jones making his confession has also been handed in as evidence before the court.It shows that at this point of making the statement, Ian Jones fell silent for a few long seconds, as he looked away to his left, staring at the floor.According to Chris Jones’s confession, though, he had remained behind at Schaum’s vehicle while Ian Jones walked off with Schaum – or “the uncle”, as Chris Jones referred to him.”I went to the back wheel and sat down.I covered my ears.He said he fired two shots but I only heard one shot and he said to me that two shots had been fired,” Chris Jones stated in his confession.While Ian Jones had told the Police that his brother had forced him at Schaum’s house to go ahead and hold Schaum at gunpoint, Chris Jones in turn told the Police that his brother had threatened him that if he were to say anything about the incident, “he will look for me and then he will shoot me just like he shot that guy”.Chris Jones’s appearance when he made the confession was described as “childlike and shy” by Chief Inspector Manfred Sass, who took down the statement from him on February 21 2002.Inspector Peter Oelofse in turn described Ian Jones as looking shocked when he made a confession to the Inspector on March 10 2002.Chris Jones broke down in tears twice when he did the pointings-out to Chief Inspector Van Zyl, the officer testified.The second time was at the alleged murder scene.The first was when Jones saw a leather jacket that belonged to Schaum, with a clearly visible bloodstain and bullet holes in it, where he had told the officer he and his brother had thrown it onto a butchery’s roof in Olympia in Windhoek, where they also abandoned Schaum’s car after the shooting.Back at the scene of the killing, after he had shot Schaum, his brother stopped him before they drove away from the scene, Ian Jones had told Oelofse.He told the Policeman: “He then said to me, now we are brothers.And he took me and he hugged me.”The two brothers are remaining in Police custody until their trial continues from October 10.Smith and Pelser, who are accused of having helped Ian Jones get rid of some evidence connected to the incident and to get over the border into South Africa, are free on bail.