Iuze Mukube
Testimonies in a case relating to the murder of Lydia Garises (27) in 2011 at Farm Stinkwater in Dordabis revealed that the alleged killer had confessed to close friends to killing her before his arrest.
Geoffrey Jansen testified that his friend Herold Uirab (35) told him during the period of 11 and 12 December 2021 at a wedding reception that he had harmed a lady but did not kill her.
He added that he did not do anything with such information because he knew the accused as someone who jokes around.
It was only the next day, when police came looking around, that Uirab told him that “if the police find me, I will not see the sun again”.
Another State witness, Joseph Hansen, testified that the accused told him about the murder of Garises.
He said, in December that year, he met the accused, his close friend and relative, when he was in police custody in a cell at Dordabis.
He said, after the accused was put in the same cell with him, Uirab told him that he had murdered someone.
Hansen added that, when he questioned the accused, whom he murdered, he was told that it was someone he also knew.
After he asked Uirab how it happened, the accused told him that he was at a wedding reception on a Saturday, and that he took Garises and went to the side of a riverbed, where they spoke and then had sexual intercourse.
While they were busy, they heard shouts or people talking nearby.
Uirab told Garises that they should cross over to the other side of the river, which was darker.
After crossing over, Uirab wanted to have sexual intercourse with Garises again, but she declined.
So, he grabbed her and only let go of her after she fainted and fell, he testified.
He was told by Uirab that he commenced having sex with Garises even after she fainted.
Hansen added that the accused also told him that, “when he was done having sex with her, and when he realised that she was still breathing, he took a stone and beat her on the head with it”.
The accused’s hat fell in the process, but he could not find it since it was dark.
So, he went home, changed his clothes and put them in a basin filled with water.
The witness added that the accused told his girlfriend that the clothes were dirty after she questioned why he was changing clothes.
In addition, Uirab told his girlfriend about what he did to Garises and that he was not sure she was still alive.
After telling her about forgetting his hat at the scene, he left to look for it with his partner but still could not find it in the dark.
Uirab only found the hat the next day after going alone.
From there, he went back home and then back to the wedding, where he admitted to his friend, Jansen, that he had hurt someone.
The witness testified that the accused told him about his arrest.
The accused allegedly hid in a hole in fear that the community would kill him, as they were looking for him with the police.
Hansen said these details were told to him by the accused, as he was not present at the time.
Uirab faces charges of murder, rape, violating a dead human body and defeating or obstructing the course of justice.
He pleaded guilty to the murder and defeating or obstructing the course of justice before High Court Judge Eileen Rakow on Tuesday.
He, however, denied guilt on the charge of rape and violating a dead human body.
Uirab placed the onus on the State to prove its case.
The State, represented by Maggy Shiyagaya-Lotto, is rejecting the accused’s plea, stating he is leaving out facts as alleged by the prosecution.
The matter continues in court today.