Staff Reporter
ERNST Lichtenstrasser’s trial for the double murder of NIMT executives is nearing its conclusion as his lawyer informed the court that they won’t call a South African ballistic expert as a witness.
Lichtenstrasser was arrested in Karibib in April 2019 and appeared in the Swakopmund Magistrate’s Court in May of the same year. He is being tried on charges of murder for the alleged fatal shooting of Eckhart Mueller, the Director of the Namibia Institute of Mining and Technology (NIMT), along with Deputy Director Heimo Hellwig. This incident occurred in front of the institute’s administration building located in Arandis.
According to the accused’s lawyer, Albert Titus, Lichtenstrasser informed him that he no longer wishes to call a witness for his defense. This decision comes after the murder case was postponed in July to await the arrival of the ballistics expert, who was unable to travel to Namibia due to challenges in acquiring a work visa. The expert was meant to come and examine evidence purportedly related to the case, as presented by the state.
During the trial, a ballistics expert employed by the Namibian Police Forensic Science Institute testified that eight spent cartridge casings and a bullet point found at the scene where Mueller and Hellwig were shot were linked to a 9mm Beretta pistol discovered buried in the desert about 15 kilometers from Arandis by police officers a month after the murders.
It was further testified that on May 15, 2019, which is a month after the murder of the deceased persons, a forensic report indicated that cartridges found at the murder scene, the cartridges found at the shooting range where Lichtenstrasser and his son practiced, and the cartridges found at the accused’s residence in Otavi were fired from the same firearm.
With the defense’s case now closed, the matter is postponed to September 14 for the closing arguments of the lawyers. Prosecutor Antonia Verhoef represents the state, and Judge Christie Liebenberg presides over the matter.
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