The trial of a man accused of coldly mutilating the body of a woman at Farm Stinkwater in Dordabis was yesterday remanded to today.
Herold Uirab (35) is facing charges of murder, rape, violating a dead human body as well as defeating the course of justice or attempting to do so.
Uirab's matter was on the court roll yesterday for plea and trial, but due to undisclosed documents to the defence, the matter was remanded to today.
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The accused is expected to tender his plea today, indicating whether he is guilty or not guilty of the charges alleged against him.
The matter concerns the period from 11 to 12 December 2021 at Farm Stinkwater in Dordabis, during which Uirab unlawfully and intentionally killed Lydia Garises (23).
The State alleged that Uirab also committed a sexual act with Garises by force and by physically and verbally threatening her.
Additionally, it is alleged that Uirab physically violated Garises' body by dissecting the genital pubic skin, making an incision to the abdomen with intestine evisceration, or by removing the uterus.
He further allegedly attempted to defeat the course of justice by washing Garises' blood from his clothes, discarding the clothes and returning to the crime scene to remove his hat.
Moreover, the State alleges that Uirab frustrated and/or interfered with police investigations into the disappearance or rape, or death of Garises and the violation of her body. It is stated that his conduct may have been an attempt to conceal or destroy evidence, which indicated that he raped and killed the victim.
Additionally, it may have been an attempt to protect him from being prosecuted for the crime in connection with the rape or death and violation of the victim's body.
While Uirab expressed after his arrest in 2021 that he intended to confess to the allegations, it is left to the accused on what his plea will be like today.
The State is represented by Maggy Shiyagaya-Lotto, and Uirab by Thomas Andima.
