Namibia: Authorized Support or Cough Up… Double Murder Accused Advised to Acknowledge in-House Law firm

The Directorate of Legal Assist has refused to instruct Trevor Brockerhoff as the authorized consultant for double murder accused Ernst Lichtenstrasser.

According to Shaun Gariseb for lawful help, they have resolved that if Lichtenstrasser – the person accused of capturing and killing two best executives of the Namibian Institute of Mining and Know-how (NIMT) – is not satisfied with the solutions of in-household law firm Albert Titus, he will have to make yet another strategy himself.

The directorate has a short while ago decided not to outsource its capabilities any longer but make use of its crop of in-home legal professionals to protect accused not ready to spend for non-public authorized representation.

Lichtenstrasser has refused the solutions of Titus when his demo was intended to start out in the Windhoek Substantial Court docket and informed Choose Christie Liebenberg that he will attraction the selection of lawful support not to instruct Brockerhoff as this will set his scenario backwards.

According to him, it will not be in the interest of justice for him to begin afresh with a new attorney as Brockerhoff who has been with him given that the start is familiar with his circumstance in and out.

Judge Liebenberg, on the other hand, reported that due to the fact lawful support has made their final decision, he has no preference but to buy that the trial must start on 15 February with Lichtenstrasser set to plead on two counts of murder, two fees of possessing a firearm without having a licence, and more rates of possessing ammunition without the need of a licence, defeating or obstructing the study course of justice, theft and the unauthorised source of a firearm and ammunition.

The prosecution alleges that Lichtenstrasser, a former lecturer at the Tsumeb campus of NIMT, shot and killed Eckhardt Mueller and Heinz Heimo Hellwig who had been the executive director and deputy director of NIMT respectively at Arandis in April very last yr.

Mueller and Hellwig were being killed when they ended up gunned down at the entrance of the NIMT places of work at the Erongo mining city.

It is alleged that right before the tragic taking pictures, Lichtenstrasser was used at the Tsumeb campus of the establishment for a couple of a long time, which was shut to his residence at Otavi and was unhappy about a conclusion to transfer him to the Keetmanshoop campus.

Having said that, it is stated, the two deceased have been steadfast in their conclusion about the transfer irrespective of his remonstrations.

The indictment even further reads that Lichtenstrasser and his son went concentrate on practising on Saturday 13 April 2019 at a friend’s farm with an unlicensed and illegal 9mm pistol and ammunition.

It is further stated that the upcoming working day, he drove to Arandis wherever he overnighted in the desert.

In the course of the early early morning hrs of the future working day, he waited for the arrival of the two deceased at the entrance to the NIMT premises at Arandis as it was their habit to generate alongside one another to the campus.

Upon their arrival, he fired photographs at them with the unlawful 9mm pistol and each deceased died at the scene owing to injuries sustained by the gunshots.

It is additional alleged by the Point out that Lichtenstrasser then fled the scene and drove into the desert in which he disassembled the pistol and buried it together with a holster and 18 live bullets in the ground in an try to frustrate the investigation of the murders and to hide or ruin proof connected to the crimes.

It is even further alleged that for the duration of 2016, he stole a firearm barrel from a gunsmith’s company premises in Grootfontein.

For the duration of the similar yr, he was also in illegal possession of a shotgun and provided just one of his workers with the shotgun and ammunition without having the necessary licence, authorisation or permit.

Lichtenstrasser is at present in police custody and detained at the Windhoek Correctional Facility.

[email protected]