Lichtenstrasser stays behind bars
Alleged double-murderer Ernst Lichtenstrasser will remain in custody until his next court appearance in February 2020.
His application for the preliminary dismissal of his case due to alleged sluggish police work failed in the Swakopmund Magistrate's Court this week.
Lichtenstrasser, who was born in Austria, stands accused of killing Namibian Institute of Mining and Technology (NIMT) executive director Eckhart Mueller and his deputy Heimo Hellwig on April 15 this year.
The investigation into the gruesome incident is nearly complete.
“We are just waiting for a DNA analysis,” senior police investigator Johan Henry Geiseb told the court this week.
Geiseb was called to the witness stand after Lichtenstrasser's lawyer Trevor Brockerhoff argued that a further adjournment of the case was unacceptable.
The case was adjourned in September because of outstanding laboratory results “and three months later we are not a step further”, Brockerhoff argued.
“There is no guarantee that these results will be available by the next court date in February.”
He said the court should not tolerate tardy police work.
Brockerhoff thus submitted a request that the proceedings be discontinued, at least for the time being. This would give the prosecutor the opportunity to “complete the investigation in peace” and “put their house in order”, because “my client has been languishing in pre-trial detention for seven months”, Brockerhoff said.
Geiseb testified he had “completed all of the inquiries requested”.
He said 51 pieces of evidence were submitted for forensic testing, “of which the results of 50 samples” had been completed.
He said they are just waiting for DNA analysis to be carried out on Lichtenstrasser's clothing and a holster.
However, such analyses are very complex and take time, Geiseb added.
“The delay is not unreasonable,” Magistrate Nelao Brown ruled.
She also praised the laboratory staff, who had ensured that so much analyses were already available.
She adjourned the case until 18 February next year.
Lichtenstrasser was arrested in April, shortly after Mueller and Hellwig were shot in front of the main entrance to the NIMT training facility in Arandis.
Erwin Leuschner
His application for the preliminary dismissal of his case due to alleged sluggish police work failed in the Swakopmund Magistrate's Court this week.
Lichtenstrasser, who was born in Austria, stands accused of killing Namibian Institute of Mining and Technology (NIMT) executive director Eckhart Mueller and his deputy Heimo Hellwig on April 15 this year.
The investigation into the gruesome incident is nearly complete.
“We are just waiting for a DNA analysis,” senior police investigator Johan Henry Geiseb told the court this week.
Geiseb was called to the witness stand after Lichtenstrasser's lawyer Trevor Brockerhoff argued that a further adjournment of the case was unacceptable.
The case was adjourned in September because of outstanding laboratory results “and three months later we are not a step further”, Brockerhoff argued.
“There is no guarantee that these results will be available by the next court date in February.”
He said the court should not tolerate tardy police work.
Brockerhoff thus submitted a request that the proceedings be discontinued, at least for the time being. This would give the prosecutor the opportunity to “complete the investigation in peace” and “put their house in order”, because “my client has been languishing in pre-trial detention for seven months”, Brockerhoff said.
Geiseb testified he had “completed all of the inquiries requested”.
He said 51 pieces of evidence were submitted for forensic testing, “of which the results of 50 samples” had been completed.
He said they are just waiting for DNA analysis to be carried out on Lichtenstrasser's clothing and a holster.
However, such analyses are very complex and take time, Geiseb added.
“The delay is not unreasonable,” Magistrate Nelao Brown ruled.
She also praised the laboratory staff, who had ensured that so much analyses were already available.
She adjourned the case until 18 February next year.
Lichtenstrasser was arrested in April, shortly after Mueller and Hellwig were shot in front of the main entrance to the NIMT training facility in Arandis.
Erwin Leuschner
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