The murder of Hans Schonewille, who was known as ‘the Indian’, remains a cold case. New investigations into the 1999 murder have failed to resolve the crime in the past year and a half. It also means that the case against suspect Simon van K. will be dropped, his lawyer confirms.
“I was informed about this by the Public Prosecution Service this afternoon,” said lawyer Pieter Hoogendam. “The case against my client has been dropped and I have told my client that.” According to Hoogendam, the relatives of Schonewille were also informed and the Public Prosecution Service would later issue a press release. That just happened.
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liquidated
‘The Indian’ is actually called Hans Schonewille. De Leidenaar was a catering man and well-known face in Leiden. He rented out slot machines and organized the illegal lotto at the time. Schonewille was liquidated on June 11, 1999. A police officer found his body in a parking lot in Aarlanderveen.
A perpetrator was never caught, but last year the police again drew attention to the case in a podcast. 30,000 euros in tip money was also offered for the tip that would lead to solving the case. After that, so many tips came in that at the end of June 2021 the police announced that they had almost solved the case. New and extensive tactical and forensic investigations were carried out. Witnesses and others involved were heard again. This also applied to six people who had been identified as suspects of (involvement in) the murder. “My client has been heard a number of times,” says lawyer Hoogendam about Simon van K.
The Public Prosecution Service announced this afternoon that it had not resolved the case, despite all the new attention and the new investigation. The case remains a cold case. This means that the case can be resumed if new information becomes available. The tip money also remains.
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Declaration
That is not the end of the matter for Hoogendam and his client. For example, there is still a report from the sixty-year-old Simon van K. against the police. Van K. said he was threatened with death on July 30 last year by two men on a motorcycle who came to him when he had visited a hospital in Alphen aan den Rijn. He hears the men shout, “You’re going to bleed for the Indian.” The startled K. turns and runs back into the hospital.
When Van K. wanted to file a report, he encountered a lot of opposition. He then bought a gun to protect himself. That in turn led to the judiciary arresting him for illegal possession of weapons. And that was surprising to Van K., because how could the judiciary even know that he had bought a firearm?
K. is in jail for two weeks for illegal possession of weapons. In prison he is visited in mid-July by two police officers who tell him ‘that the men were on the police motorbike’. This is also apparent from excavation work by lawyer Hoogendam. The case against K. for illegal possession of weapons is withdrawn (and later dropped) and K. is released. According to Hoogendam, he received double compensation for the two weeks he was incarcerated. On behalf of his client, the lawyer makes a complaint against the two officers of ‘threat of a crime against life’. ,,But I would also like to see the leader of the cold case team who gave those two agents the order to be included in the case,” says Hoogendam.
The report is currently being assessed by the Public Prosecution Service in Rotterdam.
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