By: Justicia Shipena
The lawyer of NIMT double-murder accused Ernst Lichtenstrasser says his client’s failure to show up at the Keetmanshoop campus had nothing to do with the transfer.
Albert Titus is representing Lichtenstrasser in the ongoing trial after Hendrik Koekemoer, the principal of artisan training at NIMT, testified in the Windhoek High on Tuesday.
Koekemoer said Lichtenstrasser failed to start his duties at the southern campus a couple of times.
“It was because he was placed on paid leave until a legal decision, and he also had a doctor’s appointment on 15 April 2019 in Tsumeb,” said Titus.
Lichtenstrasser is accused of murdering the NIMT directors Eckhart Mueller and Heimo Hellwig at Arandis in 2019. After that drove into the desert near Arandis and allegedly took apart the murder weapon and buried it.
He was said to be in dispute with the directors about a decision to transfer him from the NIMT campus at Tsumeb, where he was stationed, to Keetmanshoop.
According to him, his client was always of the view that he would be able to appeal the decision.
“That is why in his letter stating in closing I want to categorically say I have always been willing to go the extra mile and corporate with NIMT management and therefore willing to sacrifice and expect temporary separation from my family provided that NIMT offers financial assistance in the form of accommodation and fuel,” explained Titus.
Titus added Lichtenstrasser believed that it would be more cost-effective in the interest of NIMT that he remains in Tsumeb and trains in electrical.
“It is my instruction that even though he thought it would be cost-effective that he stays at Tsumeb, he was willing to accept and separate from his family.”
During his evidence-in-chief with deputy prosecutor general Antonia Verhoef, Koekemoer said a letter was sent to Lichtenstrasser after he opted to transfer to Keetmanshoop to report at the campus on 04 March 2018.
“He did not resume his duties at Keetmanshoop on that date, and he was booked off for the whole of March for medical reasons,” he testified.
According to him, Lichtenstrasser was then instructed to report for duties at the southern campus on 2 April 2019.
However, Lichtenstrasser again did not report and went to the Tsumeb campus.
“A letter was again written to Lichtenstrasser which instructed him to commence his duties at Keetmanshoop on 8 April 2019 at 07h00.”
Koekemoer said Lichtenstrasser still did not report to the Keetmanshoop campus.
He was then put on sick paid leave for the institution to take legal steps.
He added that the two training officers stationed at the fitting and turning workshop with Lichtenstrasser opted to be transferred to the Arandis campus.
As of 18 September 2018, he said there were no new intakes for the fitting and turning course, and the rest of the trainees at Tsumeb were transferred to Keetmanshoop or Arandis.
Koekemoer also said that Lichtenstrasser had threatened Mueller, and Mueller revealed this at the meeting.
Koekemoer testified that he was tasked to drive a NIMT vehicle to Arandis on the morning the two directors were gunned down and that he arrived on the murder scene minutes after the fatal shooting occurred.
“The matron and the night watchman were there. I went to the scene, and I felt the pulse of both the directors, and there was n pulse,” he said.
Lichtenstrasser was arrested at Karibib on the evening of 16 April 2019 was denied bail last month for the third time.
His trial continues on 17 March 2022 in the Windhoek High Court.
