Windhoek
High Court Judge John Christi Liebenberg will deliver a judgment on Monday as to whether American murder accused Marcus Thomas is fit to stand trial. Liebenberg will decide whether Thomas, one of the co-accused in an ongoing murder trial, should undergo further psychiatric evaluation.
Deputy Prosecutor General Antonia Verhoef on Tuesday argued that the people who examined Marcus Kevin Thomas, 30, did not have sufficient evidence to prove that he is not fit for trial. Verhoef argued that Thomas should be subjected to further neurogical examination.
Thomas and co-accused, fellow American Kevan Donnell Townsend, 29, stand accused of having murdered Andre Heckmair, 25, in Windhoek on January 7, 2011. Heckmair died after he was shot in the head in a car on a quiet street in Klein Windhoek.
The State alleges Thomas and Townsend planned the killing of Heckmair and travelled to Namibia from the United States of America near the end of December 2010 to carry out their plan.
They are also accused of having sent a firearm silencer to Namibia from Finland and illegally importing two pistol barrels into the country, before illegally buying a pistol and ammunition in Namibia.
During five-weeks of psychiatric observation between March 10 and April 16 this year, Thomas was found to have memory impairment; his ability to acquire and process knowledge was allegedly impaired, and he struggled with abstract reasoning, according to Dr Ndahambelela Mthoko, who reported on behalf of a panel that examined Thomas’ mental condition.
Dr Mthoko said the panel concluded that Thomas was “not fit to stand trial” at the time the report on his mental condition was drafted on April 30.
In May Verhoef informed Judge Liebenberg that the State had a number of problems with the report, saying it was incomplete and difficult to follow. Verhoef then asked the judge to issue a subpoena for Dr Mthoko to testify in court in order to explain the report and their findings.
Dr Mthoko informed the court that a psychologist, who was involved in the assessment of Thomas, recommended that a comprehensive neurological examination needed to be carried out to determine the extent of his alleged memory loss.
Dr Mthoko said the psychologist suggested that neuro-psychological tests had to be done, but with no neuro-psychologist registered in Namibia, her recommendation was not followed.
The two North Americans were arrested in Windhoek a few hours after the killing of Heckmair in January 2011 and have been in custody since. Last year Thomas attempted to escape from Windhoek Correctional Facility, where he is being held. A fall during the botched escape is suspected to have caused his apparent head injury. Thomas allegedly cut a blanket and used it as a rope to get onto the roof before making his way to an area that covers the prison workshop. On the roof there was a grill door that he sawed through.
Thomas then squeezed his way out beneath the gate of the workshop, from where he attempted a dash for freedom, Deputy Commissioner of Prisons and Correctional Services, Tuhafeni Hangula Hangula previously told New Era.
Thomas was, however, snared by the barbed wire fence on the perimeter of the prison and hung upside down for about two hours before he was rescued by the Windhoek Fire Brigade, but sustained several cuts to his arms, face, neck, hands and right foot.
Defense lawyers Monty Karuaihe and Joshua Kaumbi are defending Thomas and Townsend respectively, on instruction from the Directorate of Legal Aid.