The prison term of 70 years and six months that Judge Nate Ndauendapo has meted out to Mikini is, except for terms of life imprisonment, the third longest prison sentence ever imposed by a Namibian court.

Mikini (40) was sentenced ten days after Judge Ndauendapo had convicted him on two charges of murder, committed with a direct intention to kill, as well as counts of attempted murder and assault.

Mikini was found guilty of murdering his wife, Magdalena Maholland-Mikini (34), and her cousin, John Robert Orlam (41), and of attempting to murder Orlam's wife, Estelle Orlam, and having assaulted Maholland-Mikini by slapping her on the evening of May 17 last year.

Maholland-Mikini and John Orlam were murdered when they were shot dead in a house on Isak Kazongari Street in Katutura.

In the same incident, Mrs Orlam was wounded when she was shot in the side of her neck.

According to testimony heard by Judge Ndauendapo during Mikini's trial, the shooting was sparked by an argument between Mikini and his wife.

The cause of the argument was the disappearance of N$100 out of Maholland-Mikini's wallet.

She accused Mikini of having taken the money, and during an argument on the issue, he slapped her.

She responded by telling Mikini to take his belongings and leave the house.

His response, however, was to go to his and his wife's room in the backyard of the premises, where he fetched a 9 millimetre CZ pistol.

On his return to the house, Mikini fired about a dozen shots in the Orlam couple's bedroom.

Maholland-Mikini was shot six times.

John Orlam, who was shot in the bed where he lay sleeping, was shot five times.

At his trial, Mikini said he suspected that his wife was having a relationship with John Orlam and claimed he had acted in self-defence when he carried out the shooting.

Judge Ndauendapo rejected that claim.

With the sentencing on Monday the Judge told Mikini that, given society's outrage at violent crime in Namibia and its expectations on how the country's courts should deal with offenders, the only appropriate punishment for Mikini was a long term of imprisonment.

Judge Ndauendapo remarked: "Society is calling on the courts to send a clear message to violent criminals that they must be removed from our houses and our streets.

They must be effectively put away so that our society can be safe."

On the crimes committed by Mikini, the Judge commented: "The manner in which the deceased were shot was brutal and totally senseless.

Two innocent and defenceless people, in the prime of their lives, were murdered by you.

I have observed the family members when they testified and almost all of them wept openly when they recounted the events of that fateful night.

Your actions caused them so much pain.

Three minor children must face the world without a mother because of your actions."

Mikini and his late wife had two children, while Mikini and Maholland-Mikini also had one child each from previous relationships.

Addressing the court in person on Tuesday last week on a question whether he should be declared permanently unfit to possess a firearm, Mikini said he wanted the gun with which the fatal shooting was carried out to be returned to him, as he had paid for it and he still wanted to use it for self-defence in future.

This statement ended up counting against Mikini, with Judge Ndauendapo commenting on this score: "(H)e had the audacity to demand the return of the pistol which was used in the commission of the murders.

That to me is not a sign of somebody who is remorseful."

Judge Ndauendapo sentenced Mikini to 30-year prison terms on each of the murder charges, a ten-year term for attempted murder, and six months' imprisonment for assault, and ordered that the sentences should run consecutively.

He also ordered that Mikini is prohibited from possessing a firearm for the rest of his life.

Deputy Prosecutor General Zenobia Barry prosecuted.

Mikini was represented by defence lawyer Louis Karsten, on instructions from the Directorate of Legal Aid.

Life terms of imprisonment aside, the only people ever to have received longer jail terms in Namibia than Mikini are triple murderer Tuhafeni Berendisa Kutamudi, who received a record 85-year prison sentence from Judge Mavis Gibson in July 2005, and double murderers and robbers Iipinge Andreas Leonard Amalovu and Paulus Nahambo, who were sentenced to 75 years' imprisonment each by Judge Simpson Mtambanengwe in June 2001.

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