Schaum murder case delayed yet again

THE case against two brothers accused of kidnapping and murdering a Windhoek businessman has been postponed again to allow the Prosecutor General to make a decision on their prosecution.

The decision comes close to a year after the case was postponed for the first time for the same reason, and two years after the alleged crimes were committed. Brothers Ian and Chris Jones remain in custody.They and their two co-accused, Magnum John Smith and Johannes Gerhardus Pelser, made another appearance in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court last Tuesday.Their case had been postponed to that date awaiting the PG’s decision; but again – as on three previous occasions when they had to appear in court for that reason – a decision was not made.The four now have to appear in court on June 9.The Jones brothers are accused of breaking into the house of a Windhoek businessman, Gero Joachim Schaum, in Van Coller Street, Klein Windhoek, on February 14 2002.They are also accused of robbing Schaum at gunpoint when he returned home later that day, and of murdering him by shooting him in the head twice after they had kidnapped him in his own car.Some N$400 000 in cash is claimed to have been stolen from a safe in Schaum’s home; the Police reported that almost half of this money was recovered when Ian Jones was arrested in Cape Town about two weeks after the murder.Pelser and Smith only face a charge of defeating or obstructing the course of justice.It is alleged that they helped Ian Jones leave Namibia for South Africa after the crimes, and that they assisted him in getting rid of the suspected murder weapon and its ammunition by throwing it into the Orange River.Pelser and Smith remain free on bail.Brothers Ian and Chris Jones remain in custody. They and their two co-accused, Magnum John Smith and Johannes Gerhardus Pelser, made another appearance in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court last Tuesday. Their case had been postponed to that date awaiting the PG’s decision; but again – as on three previous occasions when they had to appear in court for that reason – a decision was not made. The four now have to appear in court on June 9. The Jones brothers are accused of breaking into the house of a Windhoek businessman, Gero Joachim Schaum, in Van Coller Street, Klein Windhoek, on February 14 2002. They are also accused of robbing Schaum at gunpoint when he returned home later that day, and of murdering him by shooting him in the head twice after they had kidnapped him in his own car. Some N$400 000 in cash is claimed to have been stolen from a safe in Schaum’s home; the Police reported that almost half of this money was recovered when Ian Jones was arrested in Cape Town about two weeks after the murder. Pelser and Smith only face a charge of defeating or obstructing the course of justice. It is alleged that they helped Ian Jones leave Namibia for South Africa after the crimes, and that they assisted him in getting rid of the suspected murder weapon and its ammunition by throwing it into the Orange River. Pelser and Smith remain free on bail.