Five in court for 'aggravated robbery', but German tourist still missing

Five men accused of robbing a German tourist on a hiking trail in Hout Bay nearly three weeks ago appeared in court on Monday, but the whereabouts of Nick Frischke are still unknown. 

An extensive search has yielded no trace of the missing 22-year-old, but some of his personal belongings, including a credit card, backpack and cellphone, were allegedly found among items of stolen property recovered by police. A knife was also found.

Ishaan Fisher, Jason Adonis, Melvin Geunantin, Petersen van Roy and Carlo Geunantin appeared in the Wynberg magistrate’s court.

The Hout Bay Community Policing Forum said on February 28 three suspects initially arrested had allegedly “admitted to robbing Frischke”, but despite extensive questioning at the time there were no leads on the whereabouts of Frischke.

Frischke was last seen in a shop at the V&A Waterfront on February 14. The tourist had arrived in South Africa eight days earlier and had booked into an Airbnb in Pinelands.

The court postponed the case to May 4 for further investigation.

Western Cape National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said some of the suspects also faced unrelated robbery cases.

“The court was told there is a further investigation that still needs to be done which includes taking of witness statements, DNA and analysis of cellphone material.

“We understand some of the accused face other charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances. The court ordered that their names can be published but their faces cannot be published as there is still an identity parade that has to be done.”

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