Escaped Joneses’ trail goes cold

FUGITIVE brothers Chris and Ian Jones remained on the run from the Police for a third successive day yesterday.

It was as if the two brothers and the stolen vehicle in which they fled Windhoek on Monday had disappeared off the face of the earth, one of the Police officers involved in the manhunt for the pair remarked yesterday. By yesterday afternoon, it did not appear that the fortunes of the Police team searching for the brothers in the south of Namibia had changed for the better yet.The trail left by the brothers appears to have gone cold.Chief Inspector Angula Amulungu of the Police’s Public Relations and Liaison Division reported late yesterday that since they were last spotted at Keetmanshoop on Monday night, there had not been any other confirmed sighting of the brothers or the green Nissan V6 bakkie (registration number N36706W) that they hijacked at knifepoint in Windhoek.FALSE ALARMAmulungu said suspicions that tracks found at Aussenkehr along the Orange River on Wednesday had been left by the brothers, had turned out to be a false alarm.Another false alarm was raised from Grunau on Wednesday.A vehicle that was claimed to have been similar to the one the brothers allegedly stole in Windhoek, turned out to have been not even a close match, Amulungu added.He said he could not speculate whether the brothers were still in Namibia, or had managed to flee into South Africa.The police in South Africa had been informed of the manhunt for the duo, Amulungu said.When asked how long the search would continue, Amulungu said:”Until we’ve brought these guys back.”The Joneses escaped from the holding cells at the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in the city’s Luderitz Street between 13h00 and 14h00 on Monday.They had been taken to court to appear on a charge of theft that dates back to February last year, but were apparently not locked up in a cell and also not kept under direct supervision during the lunch hour.They are thought to have escaped by unlocking a security gate barring access to the court building’s C Court.It is suspected that, having opened the gate, which is claimed to have had a faulty lock, they crawled through a gap at the bottom of a locked wooden door which provides access to the courtroom.The gap is where the bottom panel of the door had been broken out some time before.They again left the courtroom by climbing through a window, it is suspected.Chris Jones (27) had been in custody since February 21 2002, and Ian Jones (26) since March 6 2002.They are accused of murdering a Windhoek resident, Gero Schaum, on February 14 2002.Schaum was allegedly shot in the head after the brothers kidnapped him from his house in the city, where they are also claimed to have stolen a range of items, including some N$400 000 in cash.By yesterday afternoon, it did not appear that the fortunes of the Police team searching for the brothers in the south of Namibia had changed for the better yet.The trail left by the brothers appears to have gone cold.Chief Inspector Angula Amulungu of the Police’s Public Relations and Liaison Division reported late yesterday that since they were last spotted at Keetmanshoop on Monday night, there had not been any other confirmed sighting of the brothers or the green Nissan V6 bakkie (registration number N36706W) that they hijacked at knifepoint in Windhoek.FALSE ALARMAmulungu said suspicions that tracks found at Aussenkehr along the Orange River on Wednesday had been left by the brothers, had turned out to be a false alarm.Another false alarm was raised from Grunau on Wednesday.A vehicle that was claimed to have been similar to the one the brothers allegedly stole in Windhoek, turned out to have been not even a close match, Amulungu added.He said he could not speculate whether the brothers were still in Namibia, or had managed to flee into South Africa.The police in South Africa had been informed of the manhunt for the duo, Amulungu said.When asked how long the search would continue, Amulungu said:”Until we’ve brought these guys back.”The Joneses escaped from the holding cells at the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court in the city’s Luderitz Street between 13h00 and 14h00 on Monday.They had been taken to court to appear on a charge of theft that dates back to February last year, but were apparently not locked up in a cell and also not kept under direct supervision during the lunch hour.They are thought to have escaped by unlocking a security gate barring access to the court building’s C Court.It is suspected that, having opened the gate, which is claimed to have had a faulty lock, they crawled through a gap at the bottom of a locked wooden door which provides access to the courtroom.The gap is where the bottom panel of the door had been broken out some time before.They again left the courtroom by climbing through a window, it is suspected.Chris Jones (27) had been in custody since February 21 2002, and Ian Jones (26) since March 6 2002.They are accused of murdering a Windhoek resident, Gero Schaum, on February 14 2002.Schaum was allegedly shot in the head after the brothers kidnapped him from his house in the city, where they are also claimed to have stolen a range of items, including some N$400 000 in cash.