Boy, 7, commits suicide

Police in Shakawe have confirmed the death of a 7-year-old boy who was found hanging from the rafters of her mother’s hut in Xhaoga settlement this past Saturday.

Shakawe Police Station Officer, Assistant Superintendent Ogolotse Tampa, explained that the boy hanged himself with a rope.

“The reason for the suicide is not yet known because his mother says the boy was never reprimanded, or shouted at prior to the incident. For now, nobody seems to know what drove the small boy to take his life,” Tampa explained.

Tampa says the boy’s mother told the police that on the fateful day she left the standard two student of Xhaoga satellite primary school who had been playing with his friends in the yard when she went to collect her mobile phone which was in a charger at a friend’s house.

As she approached the yard, she said she heard screams and she rushed back only to be met with a horrific sight of her son’s lifeless body hanging from the rafters.

“She did not even collect her phone,” added Tampa.

Of late, Tampa explained, the small village of Xhaoga has been hit by a spate of suicide incidents.

In the just ended month of October, the settlement lost six people due to suicide, the eldest being a 68-year-old man and the youngest. Of all the suicides five were male.