A fourteen year-old orphan staying with his grandmother has reportedly committed suicide with a shoelace as string.
The incident which happened on Saturday afternoon in Calabar put residents of Ekondo street in palpable fear and confusion.
The boy whose name was given as Donald resides with his grandmother at 49, Ekondo Street in Calabar South. he was alleged to have committed suicide by tying a shoe race around his neck.
One of his friends, Eyo told Journalists that the boy after completing his morning chores that Saturday morning went to buy cassava meal locally called fufu and was the last they heard or saw the boy.
“After going to buy the fufu, nobody heard from him again until about 12 noon when the grandmother called a carpenter to help him bring the boy down from where he was leaning on the wall with a rope on his neck.
He said the carpenter asked what happened but the woman did not say anything tangible prompting the carpenter to run out of the premises to raise alarm.
” Nobody heard any noise from the compound until the carpenter ran out and raised alarm and we all went inside the compound. The boys legs were on the floor, there was no table or object which the boy climbed on to fix his head on the noose and the string round his neck was just a shoe lace”. Donald stated.
He said the police from Atakpa Police station came in to assess the situation and later went back.
“The police did not touch the boy and and others who were called to take the boy down did not touch the body and when the woman was asked to take the boy down she refused”
Another resident of the street said he is at a loss how the boy could have committed suicide with a shoe lace.
“There is no how the boy could tie that tiny rope on his neck to commit suicide without the shoe lace cutting”.
He said since the boy died he has been having nightmares and seeing the boy in his dream.
“We were very close and since Saturday afternoon when I saw him leaning on that wall with a rope round his neck, each time I sleep, I see him and he .keeps asking for justice. All these are happening because the boy is an orphan. His dad and mother are both dead.”
When newsmen visited the 49, Ekondo street, the gate was locked and neigbours say the occupants had gone to church.
“She has gone to church and will not be back till later in the evening” Miss Elizabeth Edet, a shop owner in the neighborhood said.
Ms Irene Ugbo, the Cross River Police Command Spokesman said she is yet to be briefed on the matte. “If the incident took place on Saturday, then I would get the details on Monday during briefing” she said.