New evidence in Heckmair murder trial

A section of a map of Windhoek, which includes the area where André Heckmair was shot in his vehicle, was found in a guest house room in which the two men accused of his murder were staying.This was the testimony by police inspector Felix Ndikoma in the High Court in Windhoek on Friday in the trial in which two American citizens, Kevan Towsend and Marcus Thomas, are charged with murder.The part of the map was evidently torn out of a larger map of the capital.Since the start of the trial, the area where Heckmair&#039;s body was found in his car with a fatal bullet wound to his head has been surrounded by controversy.TimelineAccording to Heckmair&#039;s mother Birgit&#039;s testimony, he dropped his parents off at the Maerua Mall shopping centre, where they owned the Cattle Baron restaurant.He told them he was on his way to a lunch date with two Americans. He had reportedly made a reservation for 13:00 at Stellenbosch Wine Bar in Klein Windhoek.The police called Heckmair&#039;s sister at around 14:00 as the vehicle was registered in her name, and Birgit and her husband rushed to the scene of the murder.Heckmair&#039;s body and the vehicle were not found at the restaurant or on the road between the Maerua Mall shopping mall and the eatery, but 2.5 kilometres north of the eatery on Gusinde Street.Thomas testified last week that he did have a lunch date with Heckmair and apparently waited for him in the parking lot, but he never showed up.Rights disputeTownsend claims he did not accompany Thomas but stayed at the guest house.Ndikoma testified that he found the map during a search on 9 January 2011, in a bedside table in their room, and although the name of the street was not indicated on it, the same area of Klein Windhoek in which Gusinde Street is located is visible on the map.Thomas and Townsend&#039;s legal representatives, Mbanga Siyomuinji and Salomon Kanyemba objected to the submission of the map as evidence in court.Kanyemba argued that the evidence was obtained unlawfully, because the accused were not informed of their rights at the time of their arrest on 7 January. He further claimed that the evidence was not handled correctly and that the evidence may have been tampered with.Unhappy with evidence"They objected because they simply don&#039;t like the evidence," said state prosecutor Antonia Verhoef.Judge Chistie Liebenberg ruled that the torn-off piece of the map may be admitted as evidence."The court already ruled during a previous internal hearing on the admissibility of the evidence that was seized on 9 January," he said.Siyomuinji and Kanyemba already requested an internal hearing last Monday when the trial resumed in an attempt to declare the evidence seized between 7 and 9 January 2011 inadmissible.They argued that although the two men were already arrested on 7 January, their rights were only explained to them on 13 January. This claim was contradicted during Ndikoma&#039;s evidence-in-chief on Friday. Ndikoma testified that he explained their rights to them on 7 January 7. The hearing continues today.kristien@republikein.com.na

New evidence in Heckmair murder trial

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-03

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New evidence in Heckmair murder trial

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-03

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