"I Grabbed her in a chokehold. After this happened, I threw her with a stone on the head.
"After she fainted, I left her lying there and walked away. I went to drink further with my friends who were visiting from Windhoek."
These were the words of Dordabis area resident Herold Uirab in a confession he made to a magistrate in Windhoek on 14 December 2021, after his arrest on charges of murder and rape.
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Magistrate Atutala Shikalepo testified about Uirab's confession during his trial before judge Eileen Rakow in the Windhoek High Court yesterday.
Uirab (37) is accused of murdering a 23-year-old woman, Lydia Kharises, at farm Stinkwater in the Dordabis area south-east of Windhoek during the night of 11 to 12 December 2021.
Uirab pleaded guilty to charges of murder and defeating or obstructing the course of justice when his trial began before Rakow in October last year.
His pleas on those charges were not accepted by state advocate Maggy Shiyagaya-Lotto, though.
Uirab is also facing charges of rape and violating a dead human body, on which he denied guilt.
Before making his confession, Uirab told Shikalepo a police officer had threatened to beat him if he did not talk. He also said a police officer had suggested to him that he should make a statement.
Shikalepo said she wanted to stop the recording of a statement from Uirab when he told her that, but he insisted he wanted to continue to make a statement, saying he wanted to give his version of events.
Uirab went on to tell Shikalepo he attended a wedding on 11 December 2021 and "the lady", known by him as Lydia, also attended the event.
Uirab said he had previously asked Lydia to be his girlfriend. During the evening at the wedding, he and Lydia walked to a riverbed, where they had intercourse, he said.
He said when they heard people talking close by, they crossed over the riverbed.
Uirab said he asked Lydia if they could continue having intercourse, but she refused because of the presence of people nearby.
"After Lydia refused me, I grabbed her, and after I grabbed her she became dizzy, or it was like she fainted," he recounted before describing that he had her in a chokehold and went on to throw a stone at her head.
Having left the scene of his attack on Kharises, he later went home, where he told his girlfriend about the incident before he went to sleep, Uirab said.
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He added that he returned to the scene of the attack before daybreak to fetch his hat, which he had left there.
"I still found Lydia lying there," Uirab recounted.
A medical doctor who carried out a post-mortem examination on Kharises' body told the court about three weeks ago that her body had been mutilated with a sharp object after she had died.
The doctor testified that she found that Kharises' pubic skin had been cut off and her uterus had been removed through a cut to her lower abdomen.
In his confession, Uirab made no mention of mutilating Kharises' body.
The trial is continuing.
Uirab, who is represented by defence lawyer Joas Neemwatya, is being held in custody.
