Windhoek Widow Commits Suicide

Nico Smit

18 May 2011

Windhoek resident Inge Hansen committed suicide at a house belonging to her brother-in-law in Pionierspark, Windhoek, on Tuesday afternoon.

Police at the scene said Hansen (58) had shot herself in the head.

Hansen, a widow of nine years, is survived by two sisters and her son.

Willi Salpeter, Hansen’s brother-in-law and owner of the property where she had lived, said he suspected that Hansen may have suffered from depression, but had no idea why she committed suicide.

Salpeter said the last time he saw Hansen was Monday evening, and that there was no indication that she was suicidal.

According to Salpeter, Hansen had called her other brother-in-law, Klaus Schmidt, before the incident and told him of her plan to commit suicide.

Schmidt tried to talk Hansen out of committing suicide while he was driving to the house, but by the time he arrived, she was already dead.

Salpeter said Hansen did not own a firearm and she may have shot herself with her son’s pistol.

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