Sentencing in matricide case today A man who was earlier this month found guilty of hacking his biological mother to death with an axe at the Otjimbingwe settlement three years ago, will be sentenced today.High Court Judge Christie Liebenberg, who presided over the trial, is expected to hand down the sentence at around 10:00.
On 5 October 2016, Sigfried Uirab was found responsible for causing the death of his 64-year-old mother Erika Uiras, when he hit her with an axe at the settlement located south-east of Karibib in the Erongo Region, on 21 November 2013.
The pensioner died of head injuries while receiving treatment in a Windhoek hospital two days after the attack. She was hit five times on the back of her head with the axe. The 26-year-old Uirab was further found guilty on two counts of assault with the intention to cause grievous bodily harm and assault by threat after he attacked his sister, Ruth Uiras, by hitting her on the head with the same axe and for chasing another relative, Lizette Uiras, with the same weapon on the day of the incident.
In her submissions, State Advocate Felistas Sikerete-Vendura asked the court to impose a sentence of 40 years in the count of murder, while Uirab''s defence lawyer Titus Ipumbu appealed for mercy and for the court to hand down a sentence of 18 years in respect of this count.
Uirab maintained during the trial that he was possessed by “strange unknown spirits” that forced him to commit the crime and could thus not be held criminally responsible for the death of his mother.
He said he was suffering from substance-induced psychosis as he abused alcohol and cannabis prior to and at the time of the incident.
Uirab remains in police custody at the Windhoek Central Correctional Facility''s holding cells until Thursday for the handing down of the sentence.
NAMPA