Woman confesses to killing newborn son

A young woman who was convicted on Friday of killing her infant son begged to be kept behind bars despite still being free on bail until her sentencing.In an unexpected twist, Hilda Tshekupe Iita (27), stunned court officers and spectators on Friday, when she told acting Oshakati High Court judge Duard Kesslau that she preferred to be kept behind bars at the Oluno Correctional Facility, instead of being allowed to leave the court until she is given a sentence by the court.Her request unleashed a round of surprised whispers throughout the courtroom.Kesslau denied her request, and postponed the matter to 14 July for testimony in aggravation and mitigation of sentencing.Iita had been found guilty of killing her infant son in March 2020, following her guilty plea.When she heard that she would remain free on bail, Iita frowned and continuously twisted her hands in agitation.She told the court that she did not have a place to stay and that she had informed her landlord that she was moving out because she was going to prison.Iita was released on N$500 bail in March last year.She also asked the judge, through a court-appointed Oshiwambo interpreter, whether her bail money would be refunded to her.Complex legal proceduresFollowing her conviction, she spent a number of hours standing outside the Oshakati High Court with her packed bags. She refused to accept money from her defence counsel Petrus Grusshaber, who offered to pay for her transport to return to her home village, Okeendapa, in the Omusati Region.“My lawyer already told me to come with my belongings because I would be going to the police cells. I am not going back home. I can even go and sleep at the Oshakati police for safe keeping,” she said while waiting outside the court building.Iita on Friday confirmed that she is seven months pregnant. She told Namibian Sun that she did not want “a trial now, I want to give birth first.” She said she did not want to give birth to the child inside prison, as it is not a “safe place for a newborn.”It became clear that Iita did not understand the proceedings that had taken place, or that her guilty plea had brought the trial to an end. She asked Namibian Sun to tell her lawyers that she did not want to be on trial before giving birth.Later that same day, in an SMS, she wrote: “I got help meme, but talk to my lawyer please. I don’t want a trial now. I want birth first”.Guilty pleaIita pled guilty to killing her infant son Elia Andreas one day after she gave birth to him on 12 March 2020 at the Oshakati State Hospital.In a plea statement she submitted to the court last week, she wrote that on the next day, after she was discharged from the hospital, she struggled to breastfeed him.“At around 19:00 on 13 March, the baby started having a high temperature and started to cry severely. Later he stopped crying. I then fed the baby methylated spirits to drink. The baby started to breathe with difficulty. The baby stopped breathing.”She said hospital staff provided the methylated spirits for wound cleaning.She informed the court further: “I killed my baby because my breasts could not produce any milk and the child was crying too much. I have no legal justification for killing my baby."Iita slept with her child’s remains in the house that night, before travelling to her home village the next day, with his body wrapped up in a blanket.Details“At around 18:00 I took the corpse of my baby to the mahangu field. I made a fire in the field and placed the body of the baby in the fire. I intended to destroy the body so no one can find it. Some body parts did not burn completely and I removed them from the fire and threw them in the grass near the mahangu field,” her statement stated further.Her aunt, who grew suspicious, alerted the police.Iita has two children aged five and seven respectively. They live with her mother at Okeendapa village.The state was represented by Advocate Nelao Ya France.

Woman confesses to killing newborn son

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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Woman confesses to killing newborn son

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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