WINDHOEK — The Windhoek High Court brought the protracted murder case of Marcus Thomas and Kevan Townsend to a close on Thursday, sentencing them to 29 and 30 years imprisonment respectively.

According to a new release by the Namibian Press Agency, Judge Christie Liebenberg presided over the sentencing. Both individuals were convicted of murder, each receiving a 27-year imprisonment term. Additional convictions for robbery with aggravating circumstances, importing and possessing firearms without a permit, and attempting to defeat the course of justice, collectively added almost six more years to their sentences.

Thomas, 39, was also fined N.dollars 4,000 or subjected to an additional one-year imprisonment for importing firearms without a permit. Townsend, 37, was fined N.dollars 1,000 or given a six-month additional imprisonment sentence for possession of firearms without a permit.

Judge Liebenberg ordered that two years of the sentence for the second count should run concurrently with the sentence for the first count.

Furthermore, Liebenberg cited section 10(6) of Act 7 of 1996 to declare both individuals unfit to possess a firearm for a period of five years, effective upon their release from prison.

Thomas and Townsend had jointly plotted to murder Heckmair and carried out the act with a common purpose. Heckmair was fatally shot in the head while sitting in a car on a quiet street in Klein Windhoek on January 7, 2011. He was killed five months shy of completing his studies in Switzerland.