Windhoek
A month after losing his lawyer, Marcus Thomas, 29, one of two Americans accused of the murder of Namibian citizen Andre Heckmair in Windhoek five years ago, got another lawyer on Wednesday when the matter returned to the High Court.
Thomas was granted a government-funded lawyer through the Justice Ministry’s directorate of legal aid and will now be defended by James Diedericks.
Thomas was left without legal representation in the murder trial, following the withdrawal of his government-funded defence lawyer, Monty Karuaihe, from the case on January 27.
Thomas is in court with his countryman, Kevan Donell Townsend, 28. On January 27 defence lawyer Mbanga Siyomuinji, who is representing Townsend, said Karuaihe was no longer interested in the case and has, therefore, decided to withdraw from representing Thomas.
Karuaihe was the second defence lawyer to withdraw from the case. Last year, lawyer Willem Visser decided not to continue with the case after Thomas told the court at the beginning of the trial that he wants to plead guilty to the charges.
The matter was then postponed to February 24 to allow the justice ministry’s directorate of legal aid to make arrangements for the appointment of another defence lawyer for Thomas.
The two are accused of murdering Andre Heckmair, 25, in Windhoek on January 7, 2011. Heckmair died after he was shot execution-style in the back of the head in his car on a quiet street in Klein Windhoek.
The State alleges Thomas and Townsend planned the killing of Heckmair and travelled from the United States of America to Namibia near the end of December 2010 to execute their plan.
They are also accused of having sent a gun silencer to Namibia from Finland and of having illegally imported two pistol barrels into the country, before they illegally bought a pistol and ammunition in Namibia.
In November 2014 Thomas attempted to escape from the Windhoek Correctional facility where he is being detained. He failed in his attempted prison-break and hung upside down from the boundary fence for several hours and reportedly suffered injury to his head in the process.
On the bench is Judge Liebenberg. Deputy Prosecutor General Antonia Verhoef is representing the State.