There has been no trace of his victim for almost nine months. Despite this, charges against one of the men who robbed missing student Nick Frischke (22) while he was hiking near Cape Town have now been dropped.
by Jamie Pyatt
Jason A. (18) burst into tears of joy in the dock when the judge at the Wynberg Regional Court announced the decision: A. can leave the court as a free man. The suspect even admitted that he was there when his friends attacked and robbed the German tourist on the day he disappeared.
In front of the courthouse, BILD captured the suspect who was the last person to see Nick alive on February 15th on a hiking trail on Karbonkelberg near Cape Town.
“We were sitting around on the mountain and suddenly Nick came along the hiking trail. “He was all alone,” says Jason A.
A hiking app recorded this route at the time of Nick’s disappearance Photo: Alltrails
“My friends had a knife and a gun with them. They stopped and threatened him. They took his phone, money and backpack. Then they told him to leave. Shortly afterwards they called him back: Nick had to give out the PIN for his cell phone. He told them the PIN. He was terribly afraid. They lost interest in him and he ran away.”
Jason A. claims that he didn’t take part in the attack himself. He just sat and watched. His friends then divided the loot from a previous robbery among a truck driver – and the money they took from Nick.
A surveillance camera is said to have recorded Nick here
Photo: Police
“We didn’t do anything to Nick,” Jason A. claims to BZ. “I have no idea what happened to him. When I last saw him he was scared, but he was fine. I was surprised myself when I heard in the evening that he was missing.”
All lie?
The police are certain that the student from Döbern (Brandenburg) was the victim of a violent crime. So far, however, they can only prove that the remaining suspects Igshaan F. (20), Vanroy P. (21), Carlo G. (22) and Melvin G. (36) committed the attack. During the arrest, Nick’s backpack, cell phone and credit card were seized.
There is not yet enough for a murder charge. The trial continues on November 30th.