WALVIS BAY – Suicides are on the increase in the Erongo region, with a teenage boy and a young woman taking their lives at the weekend. 
Their suicides follow that of a nine-year-old girl who hanged herself last week in Walvis Bay. 
Police during their weekend crime report indicated that a 13-year-old boy, identified as Silence Uwugaeb, killed himself on Friday evening at Swakopmund. 

The incident happened at the family residence in Mondesa. 
Crime investigations coordinator for the Erongo region Deputy Commissioner Erastus Iikuyu on Saturday said the mother found Uwugaeb and his two brothers playing loud music when she returned home on Friday evening. She allegedly ordered them to lower the volume and went to bed.  

“The mother went to the bathroom around 22h00 and discovered her son hanging from the roof of the bathroom with a belt. She alerted the neighbours and they managed to cut him loose,” he said. 
In the second incident, a young woman, who recently moved to Walvis Bay from Windhoek, also hanged herself in her rented room. The 23-year-old Rose Sirkka Frans was last seen at her rented room on Thursday in Tutaleni. 
Frans was not seen on Friday by her fellow tenant, who became worried when she noticed she has not returned home on Friday evening. 
“Around 21h00, the co-tenants became worried and went to check at her room, where they noticed her key from inside and alerted the police,” Iikuyu explained. 

Iikuyu said the police found Frans hanging from the roof of her room. She left a suicide note. 
Her parents were notified and no foul is also being suspected in her death. 
Meanwhile, the Erongo police also arrested a 42-year-old man for allegedly raping a nine-year-old girl on Thursday in the DRC area at Swakopmund. 
According to the police, the man, who is married to the victim’s aunt, allegedly inserted his middle finger into the girl’s private part under coercive circumstances. 
He was reported by the family and is expected to appear in court today.
– edeklerk@nepc.com.na