(LIMA, Reuters) – Dutch citizen Joran Van der Sloot apologized in court on Wednesday for killing a young Peruvian woman in 2010 and accepted murder charges against him in a plea that could lighten his sentence.
Van der Sloot, who was arrested but never charged in the 2005 disappearance of 18-year-old Alabama native Natalee Holloway on the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba, killed 21-year-old business student Stephany Flores after meeting her in a casino in Lima.
“I am sorry. The truth is I feel very bad,” he told the panel of three judges. He said “yes, yes” when asked if he was guilty and if he was accepting the charges in exchange for the chance of receiving a shorter jail term.
By asking for a “forestalled conclusion” to the murder trial, the equivalent of pleading “no contest” in other countries, the judges could swiftly sentence him on Friday.
His lawyer, Jose Jimenez, said earlier this week that Van der Sloot’s plea could reduce his sentence to 10 years from 25-35 years.
Jimenez said that at the time of Flores’s death, Van der Sloot was suffering from “post-traumatic stress” caused by inquiries into his possible ties to Holloway’s disappearance.
Van der Sloot, reportedly 24 years old, smiled and appeared relaxed yesterday as he chatted with his lawyer after the judges suspended the trial until tomorrow.
