6-year old allegedly commits suicide in South Africa

 

According to reports, a six-year-old pupil has allegedly committed suicide at a school in South Africa on Tuesday. The boy Mohau Mamaregane, a Grade 1 learner at Dorothy Langa Primary School, was found hanging from a noose (Pictured) on a recycling bag. 

He was said to have gone to use the toilet ad upon failing to return to class, a classmate was sent to look for him.


The student sent to check up on him said he found the deceased with his head inside a recycling bin.
He was rushed to a local clinic where he was certified dead. 

The boy's mother, Rosina Mamaregane, told Sowetan that her son "had bruises on his neck which indicated that a rope had been used to strangle him". 

She added he also had a swollen cheek and bubbles were coming out of his mouth. He had also vomited, she said. 


"I want answers to what caused my son's death," said the 34-year-old mother. 

With tears rolling down her face, the distraught mother said she had received a call from the school principal summoning her to the local clinic where he had taken her son. 


"There is a first-aid kit at every school. Why they did not use it on him while summoning paramedics?" she asked.
"The principal told me to accept what the nurses told me. I smell a rat." 


"As a family we believe he was strangled and suffocated inside a recycling bin on the school premises, as evidenced by footprints we found next to where his body was found," Mamaregane said. 

The mother said when she went to fetch the postmortem report, she was told it would only be given to the police. 


"I guess there is more to this than meets the eye. The truth must come out," she said. 

Her sister, Lekwetse Nchabeleng, said they were still traumatised by the incident. 


"I raised the boy as my own. It is impossible that he could have committed suicide," said Nchabeleng.

Lieutenant-Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe said investigations have started and would reveal the cause of death. 


"We advise members of the community, including teachers, to put the safety of children first on the basis that their movements and whereabouts must be monitored at all times to prevent these type of incidents," Ngoepe said. 

Provincial education department spokesman, Naledzani Rasila, said they were working with police and the family to uncover the truth.
He said they had also provided counselling to pupils and teachers at the school. 
The Sowetan