A killer who stabbed a hiker to death apologised to her family in court before being jailed for 20 years.
Shanae Brooke Edwards, 31, was in Georgian capital Tbilisi on the phone to a friend in the US when she was heard saying: “Take your hands off me.”
Another report claimed the Australian woman shouted: “Please let me go, OK? Just let me go” - then the call ended.
Rafael Mursakulov, 33, apologised to the Melbourne woman’s family, and said in his final words before being taken to serve his sentence: "I killed myself that day, forgive me.
“I was never this kind of person. I just turned out to be in such a situation."
The victim was stabbed 13 times, including five in the neck, which confirmed his intent to kill, the court was told.
The investigation did not confirm early reports that the teacher had been raped.
After the murder, Mursakulov hid the body, covered it with leaves and planned to burn it, said prosecutor Georgy Kobuladze.
The killer was “sane” at the time of the crime and was fully aware of what he was doing.
Mursakulov told his brother and sister-in-law about the incident on the day of the crime and warned them that if anyone reported the murder, he would kill their young child, the court heard.
The victim’s brother Tyson Edwards flew from London and spoke at the murder trial.
The family had requested a life sentence, said local reports.
The victim had been hiking alone on forested 2,526ft Mount Mtatsminda on July 30 last year, a local beauty sport park area which is inside Tbilisi’s city boundaries.
The teacher’s body was found a day later.
She had travelled to the capital from Batumi where she worked.
The corpse was located in a gorge beneath a popular ferris wheel.
Shanae’s friend in California immediately raised the alarm with friends in Georgia who went to the police triggering a search by officers and volunteers.
“As a result of several hours of intensive search and investigations, officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs found the female’s body on the slope of Mtatsminda,” said a statement.
In a rambling testimony to the court, Mursakulov had said in Georgian: “I apologise to this country, to the people, to the family of that person…
“This is a loss that you can not make up for. Just forgive me. No matter what the verdict is, I will not vote, I will not appeal, I will stand up to the end, I apologise.”
