Isabel Agnus Schonken

Isabel Angus Schonken (1954 - 2009)

Brief overview:

Isabel (55) was shot dead from behind while trying to escape three attackers at 02h00 on 26th September 2009. Isabel husband Lars (56) was shot in the torso during the attack in Klipkop outside Bronkhorstpruit.

Lars's skull and wrist were fractured when the robbers assaulted him and hit him with a pistol. Isabel is the second person to be murdered during an armed farm attack in this area in 24 hours.

Isabel's sister, Héléne Rumsey (52) said the robbers had cut through an electric fence which stretches all around the smallholding. They were able to get into the house through an open sliding door. "They attacked Lars in the bedroom," Rumsey related. He managed to get his pistol from the safe and shot one of the robbers.

Lars phoned his daughter, Sonja Smit, and her husband, who also live on the smallholding.

Smit's husband found his mother-in-law in the bathroom and his father-in-law in the living room, covered in blood. "She was already dead," he said. He took his father-in-law to the hospital, where he spent 6 days in intensive care after having metal plates in his head and arm.

Police spokesperson, Monique Vermeulen, said police followed a trail of blood to a gravel road near the smallholding, where the suspects possibly climbed into a vehicle and fled. The attackers stole a handbag, cellphone and a laptop.

A member of a group was found guilty of murder. The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria also convicted George Khoza (27) of Tembisa of attempted murder.

Lars Schonken testified that he had gone to lie down while his wife was watching television that night, but woke up when he saw three men standing in his room. He tackled the one nearest to him to protect his wife when he saw her coming into the room, but passed out after the robbers attacked him.

Judge George Webster accepted the evidence of Khoza's friend Arao Mabasa, that he sold Isabel's cellphone to one of his friends for R500 at Khoza's request. Mabasa spent several years in protective custody after Khoza's friends threatened to kill him if he testified. The court accepted evidence that the sim card found in Khoza's phone during his arrest had been used in Isabel's phone on the same day of her murder. Webster said Khoza had been part of a group who entered the home and was in possession of a gun intended for use during the robbery. The gun had been carried on behalf of all the persons who entered the house, and shooting them had been intended to incapacitate them, to facilitate the theft of their property. The shootings could therefore be attributed to all who were part of the conspiracy to enter the house, he said.

The trial was postponed to 27 September.

Brief Biography:

• Other Victims/Family
• Funeral/Memorial
• The Farm/Smallholding
• The Region (Land disputes, other incidents etc.)

Attack Details:

• Date and time of attack
• Weapons
• Items Stolen
• Investigative officer/SAPS Case No:
• Torture, Gratuitous violence
• Indications of Hate Crime? Threats etc.

Perpetrator details:

• Number and Descriptions
• Arrests
• Name/s and age/s of Perpetrator/s
• Country of origin of Perpetrator/s
• Trial/Conviction

Additional Biographical Information:

Links to Media articles:

• https://archive.is/vaWg8
• https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Man-guilty-of-murder-after-...
• https://www.geni.com/documents/view?doc_id=6000000189032392829