Swartbooi was convicted of murder on Wednesday last week in connection with the gunshot death of a shebeen patron, Sydney Kamati (24), in Windhoek's Soweto area on April 12 2003.

On Friday, Acting Judge John Manyarara sentenced him in the High Court in Windhoek to a 25-year prison term on that murder charge, and also to a concurrent term of five years' imprisonment on additional counts of negligent discharge of a firearm, illegal possession of a pistol, and illegal possession of two rounds of ammunition for that pistol.

The pistol with which Kamati was killed was declared forfeited to the State.

Noting that Swartbooi's defence counsel, Johan van Vuuren, had pointed out that Swartbooi was a youthful first offender when Kamati was shot dead with a pistol belonging to Swartbooi's father, Acting Judge Manyarara commented that Swartbooi had however in his view entered the world of crime at the deep end.

"Few crimes can be as horrendous as his crime - shooting dead a person who was enjoying a drink with a friend in a liquor outlet," Acting Judge Manyarara commented.

He said he also took a serious view of the count of negligent discharge of a firearm that Swartbooi admitted.

Swartbooi admitted that as he ran away from the shebeen after Kamati had been shot, another shot went off from the pistol he had with him in the street outside the shebeen.

He claimed that this shot had gone off accidentally, just like the deadly shot that struck Kamati on the forehead had also gone off by accident.

In the verdict he delivered on Wednesday, though, Acting Judge Manyarara rejected this defence and found that Swartbooi had intentionally fired the fatal shot.

On the firing of the second shot in the street outside the shebeen, Acting Judge Manyarara commented on Friday that this was like a scene from a film on the American Wild West.

It is, however, the sort of performance that the people of Soweto can do without, he added.

During Swartbooi's trial, the court heard that Swartbooi had met Kamati while having a few drinks at the shebeen.

According to an eyewitness who was also in the shebeen, Kamati eventually told Swartbooi, who was asking Kamati for cigarettes and something to drink, to go and buy his own.

According to Swartbooi, Kamati suddenly started swearing at him.

The upshot of this, though, was that Swartbooi left the shebeen, and that he returned a few minutes later with a pistol.

Swartbooi testified that he wanted to use the gun only to threaten Kamati, and that a shot then went off by accident when the eyewitness tried to wrestle the gun away from him.

The eyewitness however told the court about seeing Swartbooi cocking the pistol as he entered the shebeen, pointing the gun at Kamati, and firing a shot while the witness was trying to restrain him.

State advocate Sandra Miller conducted the prosecution.

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