The state aims to add a murder charge against the five accused of robbing German tourist Nick Frischke (22), who remains missing since his disappearance on the Hangberg Trail between Hout Bay and Sandy Bay on Tuesday 14 February.
The five suspects, Igshaan Fisher, Jason Abrahams, Vanroy Petersen, Carlo Guenantin and Melvin Guenantin, are awaiting their next court appearance in the Wynberg Magistrates’ Court on Friday 15 September.
Eric Ntabazalila, a spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in the province, says the case is expected to be transferred to the regional court.
“No murder charge has been added yet. The murder charge forms part of investigations that are still ongoing… This means the accused will appear at Wynberg Magistrates’ Court on this date to get a date of their appearance at the regional court.”
The murder charge will be added despite Frischke’s body not being found.
Initially scheduled for a regional court date to be established, the case was instead postponed for further investigation at the request of state advocate Brynmor Benjamin.
This, he explained in an article on News24, was necessary to confirm if there was sufficient evidence to charge the five with killing Frischke.
“There was a sequence of events that in the end led to the robbery and potential murder of the missing person. Ideally, we would want all these cases to run together.”
Locally, the case and associated police work elicit sharp criticism on the Table Mountain Watch Facebook group, which characterised it as: “An absolute botch-up by those authorities ‘mandated’ to both search for and investigate Nick’s disappearance.”
The post further elaborated that it took three days for private investigators to track Frischke down to his last-known position in Hout Bay, using a variety of resources “while the police dithered”.
“Only when it was determined he’d entered the national park did a proper formal search by the authorities start. Further to this (widely reported in Hout Bay), and only after the victim of a local robbery pointed out Nick’s bank card among stolen goods, were the police able to link these suspects to his disappearance.
“Since then, no real significant progress has been made in terms of their admitting to anything other than robbing him.”
The author of the post has strong suspicions that the accused in fact played a part in Frischke’s disappearance and ultimate murder. “After all, they had more than a week, more or less, to hide any evidence of a more serious offence; and more than enough time to align their stories,” [sic] the post further speculated.
The state has reason to believe the five bumped into Frischke while they were going through their loot from a robbery in Salamander Road, Hout Bay, in February.
Attorney Lufuno Musetsho, of Musetsho Law, told News24 while it may be difficult to prosecute a murder without a body it was not impossible. “The case will rely on circumstantial evidence, which is admissible. But you can get a conviction if the only inference that can be drawn is that the person was killed and that their death was caused by the people on trial,” he said.
