Two United States (US) citizens serving prison terms for the murder of a young man in Windhoek failed in an attempt to launch an appeal against their convictions and sentences.
The two Americans’ applications to be allowed to appeal to the Supreme Court were dismissed by judge Christie Liebenberg in the Windhoek High Court yesterday.
Liebenberg ruled there was nothing showing the sentences he imposed on Marcus Thomas (39) and Kevan Townsend (38) at the end of their trial in October last year were improper.
He also ruled there are no prospects of success for an appeal against their convictions.
The charges on which Thomas and Townsend were both found guilty in September last year include counts of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and possession of a firearm and ammunition without a licence.
The charges were connected to the murder of a Namibian man, Andre Heckmair (25), who was killed when he was shot in the head in a car in Windhoek on 7 January 2011.
Liebenberg sentenced Thomas, who was also convicted of attempting to defeat or obstruct the course of justice, to an effective prison term of 30 years, while Townsend was sentenced to 29 years’ imprisonment.
During their trial, the court heard that Heckmair’s girlfriend at the time of his death had previously been involved in a relationship with Thomas.
The court also heard that Thomas and Townsend travelled from the US to Namibia near the end of December 2010 and after arriving in Windhoek set out to buy a firearm and ammunition.
Heckmair, who was studying at a hotel school in Switzerland and had spent a part of 2010 working in New York City, was visiting his family in Namibia at the end of 2010 and start of 2011.
Liebenberg found that Thomas and Townsend acted with common purpose, planning and preparing to obtain the murder weapon and setting up a meeting with Heckmair, who was lured to a dead-end street in Klein Windhoek, where he was murdered.
The motive for the murder of Heckmair remained a mystery to the end of the two accused men’s trial, Liebenberg remarked during their sentencing.
Thomas and Townsend denied guilt on all charges, but did not testify in their own defence during the trial.
In his judgement on the two men’s application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court, Liebenberg recounted that the evidence showed beyond reasonable doubt that Thomas and Townsend arrived together in Namibia, remained together when they met several state witnesses while looking for a firearm and ammunition to buy and also both went to collect a parcel containing a firearm barrel that Thomas had sent to Namibia.
The crimes they were convicted of were premeditated, and the two men “clearly acted in concert with common purpose when actively participating in the commission of the crimes”, the judge said.
Liebenberg also said he considered the lack of direct evidence linking Thomas and Townsend to the scene where Heckmair was found murdered.
However, after considering the direct and circumstantial evidence placed before the court, he concluded that it was proven that the two men murdered Heckmair, Liebenberg said. Thomas and Townsend, who were arrested at a guest house in Windhoek on the evening of 7 January 2011, were held in custody until the conclusion of their trial more than 12 years and nine months after their arrest.
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