THE High Court trial of two Americans charged with the murder of a young man in Windhoek near the start of 2011 is set to stay stalled until the second half of next year.
Having been halted since November 2014, the trial of United States citizens Marcus Kevin Thomas (32) and Kevan Donnell Townsend (31) is set to remain stuck in the same state, after being postponed to 23 July 2018 in the Windhoek High Court yesterday.
The trial was supposed to resume before judge Christie Liebenberg on Tuesday last week, but was postponed to the start of this week after Townsend’s defence lawyer, Mbanga Siyomunji, was booked off sick. On Monday, Siyomunji was back on his post – but Townsend was absent from court, apparently because he was sick.
Townsend complained of nausea, vomiting and a stomach upset, and a doctor who examined him on Monday issued a medical certificate stating that he was not fit to appear in court until the end of the week, Siyomunji informed the judge yesterday.
The next available dates for the continuation of the trial are from 23 July to 17 August next year.
Only one state witness completed his testimony before the trial was thrown off track in November 2014, when the defence lawyer representing Thomas at that time questioned his client’s mental condition, and asked that he should undergo a period of psychiatric observation to determine if he was fit to stand trial.
Two rounds of psychiatric observation followed before judge Liebenberg ruled in October last year that Thomas was fit to be tried. Thomas reacted to that ruling by applying for judge Liebenberg’s recusal. The judge dismissed that application in July this year, and near the end of August also denied Thomas leave to appeal to the Supreme Court against his decision not to step down from the trial.
Thomas and Townsend are facing a count of murder and six other charges in connection with the killing of the 25-year-old Andre Peter Heckmair, who was shot dead in a car in a quiet street in Klein Windhoek on 7 January 2011. They denied guilt on all charges at the start of their trial.
The state is alleging that Thomas and Townsend travelled from the USA to Namibia in late December 2010 to carry out a plan to murder Heckmair, who had previously lived in the US.
The paths of Heckmair and Thomas allegedly crossed in the US, with Heckmair’s girlfriend at the time of his death having earlier been involved in a relationship with Thomas, and Thomas allegedly arrested for breaking into Heckmair’s apartment in August 2010.
Thomas and Townsend were arrested in Windhoek on the evening after Heckmair’s murder.
Postponing their case yesterday, judge Liebenberg ordered that they should remain in custody, and make a next court appearance on 22 March next year.
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