An aunt of a 14-year-old girl who was killed in a hit-and-run accident at DRC Swakopmund says that the death has shattered her family's hope for a bright future.

The teenager, Theopolina Iyambo, was killed on Sunday morning after an unlicensed driver bumped into her and left her for dead.

Theopolina Iyambo died a few minutes after her aunt sent her to run errands at the DRC informal settlement.

An unlicensed driver employed by a carwash bumped her while she was riding a bicycle, and her body was lying in a pool of blood on the side of the road.

The driver ran away and later committed suicide.

Theopolina Iyambo's cousin Selma Ipinge said, "I saw Theopolina climbing the bike, and then our aunt was going to bath, and she said don't fall. I hope you are going to drive safely, and is that bike not heavy? She said she was able to carry the load. While I was looking at her as she was riding the bike, just to see what was in front of me, all I saw was Theopolina going down, and I quickly ran to her. I stood there alone looking at her just to see her face covered in a pool of blood and her leg was really hurt; that was the only part that broke my heart—to see my cousin really, just gone; she just left us like that."

"That child was more brilliant than my biological children. I had faith in her abilities, and she wanted to become a teacher. She was my child, and nothing can take that away. She used to follow me around and tap me on the shoulder, calling me "mommy, mommy, mommy," and that is what breaks my heart—that she is no more. Mommy,  I will not leave you alone, and when I finish school, I will buy you a car," said Theopolina's aunt, Martha Nambili.

Theopolina's mother, Saima Muhonga, said, "When you'd send Theopolina, she wouldn't disagree, and she wouldn't complain if you asked her to do something. She would go wholeheartedly and come back. Theopolina was a really good child and hardworking, as I remember her."

The police say fatal hit-and-run incidents are on the rise in the Erongo region.

"We also want to urge the members of the public not to give their vehicles to people who are not licenced, because when you do that, you can be charged, and in this particular case, this individual was charged by traffic for authorising an unlicensed driver to operate a vehicle on a public road. We also want to urge members of the public to report anybody that is involved in an accident and fleeing from the scene, capture information, especially the registration number of the vehicle involved, the description of the person that was driving the car, the description of the vehicle, and so forth, and report this information to the police," said Erongo Police Unit Commander of Community Affairs, Inspector Ileni Shapumba.

A 58-year-old man also died the same day in a hit-and-run incident near a bar at Narraville Walvis Bay.

A one-year-old baby was also killed a week ago in a hit-and-run accident at Karibib.