The body of 35-year-old Delysia ||Garoës was discovered early this morning in a riverbed in the Damara 24 section of Katutura. Police have not yet identified the suspected killer.
“A dark cloud of grief hovers over the ||Garoeb residence here in Katutura,” reported an nbc News journalist Emil Seibeb at the scene. “This morning they woke up to the devastating news that Delysia ||Garoës, a person they describe as talkative, yet quiet and sensitive, has died. Delysia's brother was woken up this morning to the saddening news that his sister’s lifeless body lies in the riverbed.”
Residents living nearby told nbc News they heard a woman screaming in the early hours, pleading with someone to stop hurting her.
Ricardo ||Garoeb, Delysia’s elder brother and only sibling, is still coming to terms with the tragedy.
“Our in-law came rushing and informed us that my sister has been raped and that her body is lying in the river,” he recounted. “She said that my sister was not talking but was making slight movements with her head. We rushed to the scene, but by the time we got there, there was no movement. She was motionless. The attending officer took her pulse and said she still had a pulse, but later, when the ambulance arrived, they declared her dead.”
Delysia leaves behind three young children, all still in primary school. She was last seen on Tuesday evening around 7 p.m., leaving her room. Her belongings now remain packed in the corner of the small space she called home.
“She was a quiet person, yet talkative and happy,” Ricardo remembered. “We would disagree on things, and she would find a way to make me laugh.”
Her body was found around 05:00, and by mid-morning, the crime scene had been cleared.
While police investigations are ongoing, the family is now faced with the painful task of planning her funeral.
“We live as a family, and no one, including my sister, was working,” Ricardo explained. “Our mother suffers from mental illness and stays at the farm. We are without water and electricity and would appreciate any good Samaritan who might be able to assist us to give her a dignified burial.”
Delysia’s death comes just weeks after three brutal murders were reported in Okahandja, highlighting growing concern around gender-based violence in Namibia.