Staff Reporter
RACHEL Ragel Frans, a 39-year-old woman who was fatally shot by her boyfriend over the weekend, had allegedly, as a last line of defence, taken a picture of the man accused of killing her through her burglar door, right before he pulled the trigger.
Frans, described as a warm, friendly and kind-hearted woman who loved to go to church, was murdered at her home in the Havana informal settlement on Friday, 24 July 2026, at about 13:00 hours.
The eldest son of Frans, Aron Sondag Aron (20), described the ordeal and said that Frans has left three children behind, including himself, his 14-year-old younger sister and a nine-year-old boy, the last-born child Frans birthed for the man accused of killing her.
The suspect, identified as Benong !Uri#khob, appeared in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court and was denied bail, with the state objecting to his release due to the seriousness of the offence, fear of interference with investigations, the possibility of abscondment and that it would not be in the interest of justice to release the suspect. He faces two counts, which include assault by threat and murder read with provisions of the Domestic Violence Act. The matter was postponed to 8 September 2026 for a formal bail application.
Aron explained that the lifeless body of his mother had been discovered by his 14-year-old sister after she had returned from school around 13:00 hours. He added that upon finding that her mother had been lying on the ground unresponsive in their home, she had gone to summon a neighbour and ask for help.
He added that the day before his mother had been murdered, the accused had allegedly called one of his uncles and said that he would kill Frans, as she was stubborn.
“When I showed up, the house was occupied around 15:00 hours. I saw police cars and an ambulance drive away, but it did not have a siren. I already understood that it was too late for my mother, as the ambulance had no sirens. Somehow, before she was shot, she took pictures of the guy holding the gun,” a heartbroken Aron said.
The neighbour who had assisted the 14-year-old girl who had found her mother, Ndapandula Thomas* (real name withheld), said that neighbours had observed !Uri#khob arriving at the home of Frans at 10:00 o’clock in the morning on Friday, 24 July 2026, with three men seated at the back of his vehicle, as well as a woman seated in the front seat.
She added that although the neighbours heard a gunshot go off, they ignored it as they assumed that the woman seated in front of !Uri#khob’s car had been the deceased Frans.
Thomas added that upon being summoned by the daughter of the deceased around 13:00 after the body had been discovered, she had tried to call the name of the late Frans, as well as shake her arms and legs, but had not received any response. After the daughter of the deceased had tried to pull her mother up from the floor where she had been found, they discovered a pool of blood beneath her.
She added that she had told the young daughter of the deceased to go outside and thereafter summoned family, as well as an ambulance and police, to the scene.
“Ben took my Rachel away from me. Ben has left me in poverty. If I didn’t have salt or food at home, Rachel would always be there to help me,” Thomas said, adding that she had come to love her neighbour like a relative over the past four years they had known each other.
The national toll-free helpline for GBV victims is 116.
ROBBED OF LIFE: The deceased Rachael Ragel Frans and the man accused of killing her, Benong !Uri#khob. Photos: Contributed
