Florin’s son pleads for father’s freedom

JANA-MARI SMITH







WINDHOEK

Thomas Florin’s (54) adult son has pleaded with a High Court judge to release his father after almost 22 years in prison to join his children in Germany and to meet his grandchild.

He was jailed for killing his wife Monika, who was 30 at the time, butchering her body and cooking the bones in 1998.

In a letter handed to High Court judge Shafimana Ueitele during a one-day hearing on Wednesday, Marcel Florin informed the judge that he and his sister Jaqueline “are waiting for our father to come to Germany”.

“My sister’s daughter is very excited to meet her grandfather for the first time.”

Florin’s son assured the court that the siblings have forgiven their father “for what he did, and we please ask you to do the same”.

Another letter showed that Marcel and his grandmother, Florin’s elderly and frail mother, visited him in jail in 2018.

Marcel informed the court he plans to join his father in a joint business venture on his return, and assured the court that “my father has many friends in Germany who would support him and are excited to see him again”.

The letter informed the judge that the siblings, who were aged two and four at the time of their mother’s murder and who were in the house where their father cooked parts of his dismembered wife’s bones, have “renovated an apartment just for him” and are keen to welcome him back into their lives.

Reconciled

Marcel’s letter formed part of a raft of 13 letters handed over to the court, penned by friends and family in Namibia and Germany. The letters all contained glowing character references and assurances that Florin is ready to re-enter society without posing a risk to anyone.

“One of the many signs that convinced me [that he should be released] is that he has reconciled with his son in Germany, and that there is regular contact with him. His son is really keen to have his father released and join him in Germany,” a letter submitted by a Namibian woman, who views Florin “like a son”, stated.

“Coming back to Germany, there are lots of people who care for him, and he will find the help he needs to come back into a normal life outside of the prison,” another letter submitted.

In another, a German couple describing themselves as good friends of Florin assured the court he has “evolved into an honest person of integrity”.

A Namibian man who has regularly met and talked to the prisoner told the court Florin is a “healthy, well-informed and balanced person who should have no problems in becoming a successfully integrated member of society again”.

Florin denied killing his wife for 14 years, before admitting guilt in 2013.

Time running out

A handwritten letter addressed to the court by Florin’s mother, Margret Wimmer (86), said Florin’s children long to be with their father “after all this time”, and so does she.

She said her health is in a very fragile state, “and my time is running out on this earth. My biggest wish is to see my son once again”.

Florin has been held in the hospital wing of the Windhoek Central Prison for years due to health issues, another letter stated.

Moreover, the court was informed that over the past 20 years, he was supported financially by friends from Germany.

High Court Judge Ueitele will deliver judgement on whether Florin should be released on remission on 25 February 2022.