The man convicted of murdering the two top executives of the Namibian Institute of Mining and Technology (Nimt) in April 2019 was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment on Monday.
Judge Christie Liebenberg sentenced Ernst Lichtenstrasser in the Windhoek High Court, where Lichtenstrasser was found guilty on two counts of murder and six further charges in November last year.
Lichtenstrasser (62) was convicted of murdering Nimt executive director Eckhart Mueller and his deputy, Heimo Hellwig, who were gunned down at the institute’s head office at Arandis in the Erongo region on the morning of 15 April 2019.
Liebenberg sentenced him to life imprisonment for each of the two murders. In terms of Namibian law, a term of life imprisonment translates to a period of 25 years in prison before an offender becomes eligible to be considered for release on parole.
Liebenberg remarked during the sentencing that Lichtenstrasser’s “violent, irrational and unpredictable behaviour” shows he is a danger to society.
Lichtenstrasser was employed at Nimt and had been involved in a dispute with the institute’s management before Mueller and Hellwig were murdered.
Liebenberg also commented that the killing of the two men could only be described as “callous and extreme” and that “no respect for the sanctity of human life was shown” by Lichtenstrasser.
Read more in the next edition of The Namibian.
Stay informed with The Namibian – your source for credible journalism. Get in-depth reporting and opinions for
only N$85 a month. Invest in journalism, invest in democracy –
Subscribe Now!
