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A Hawaii doctor accused of trying to kill his wife months after she engaged in an “emotional affair” allegedly shouted “f–k you, you’re done” moments before bashing her head with a rock on a birthday hiking trip.
Gerhardt Konig, 47, previously admitted to striking his wife, Arielle, with a rock while hiking in Oahu — but insisted he was acting in self-defense as he stands trial for her attempted murder.
Arielle, a renowned nuclear engineer, testified otherwise on Tuesday — her birthday and the one-year anniversary of the harrowing attack.
The 37-year-old mother claimed that Konig lobbed insults at her while “straddling” her on the ground and fishing for a syringe in his backpack containing an unidentified substance.
Konig allegedly sneered that she “was f–king done” and ordered her to “shut the f–k up,” taunting “no one’s going to hear you out here, no one’s going to save you.”
By then, she said she was clinging to roots in the ground for support and “batted” the syringe out of Konig’s hand.
“Your family will be upset if I die, he can’t face our kids after this. And he did seem at that point to take a deep breath and calm down,” Arielle recounted pleading with her enraged husband during the attack.
When Konig paused, Arielle tried to make a break for it, at which point Konig lunged for the rock and repeatedly bashed her in the head, according to Arielle.
In the chaos, Arielle could recall biting Konig’s right forearm and squeezing his testicles, but to no avail. She said that Konig only relented when two passersby overheard Arielle’s screams and called the authorities.
During the trial’s opening statements last Thursday, Konig’s defense attorney claimed Arielle attacked the anesthesiologist when he tried to dump her over her confessed affair with a married colleague.
Arielle insisted that the “emotional affair” never progressed beyond since-deleted messages that “were flirty in nature.”
While dealing with the fallout from the affair, Konig and Arielle started going to individual and couple’s therapy. Arielle thought that they “were starting to turn a little bit of a corner” in February, just one month before the attack.
Arielle said that she was prohibited from having one-on-one interactions with her colleague, and Konig grew more controlling, and even began monitoring her work communications.
Konig also began to insist that they have sex “every other day,” which Arielle struggled with, noting they hadn’t actually had intercourse since Dec. 24, 2024.
“Gerhardt really wanted touch, physical touch, a lot of cuddling, and any refusal of that would be me withdrawing,” Arielle explained his rationale in court.
When Arielle would hesitate, she said Konig would question “how could you do this to us” and dredge up her affair.
Arielle previously accused Konig of sexually assaulting and abusing her for months before the alleged attack.
Konig has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
English (US)