The teenager had hanged himself with a piece of rope in his bedroom
Image: istockphoto.com
A FOUR-YEAR-OLD Verulam boy made the gruesome discovery of his 16-year-old brother’s body hanged from the rafters of a bedroom of their home in Trenance Park.
Prem Balram, head of Reaction Unit South Africa (Rusa), said the boy reported the discovery to his relatives, who found that the teenager had hanged himself with a piece of rope at around 4:45pm yesterday.
He said when Rusa officers got to the home, the teenager was deceased.
“On arrival, reaction officers and paramedics found a large crowd gathered outside the home. The body of the teenager was located in a bedroom where he had hanged himself with a rope fastened to a roof rafter.
“According to information at the scene, the deceased’s four-year-old brother had discovered him and alerted other family members. The circumstances leading up to the incident was not immediately established,” he added.
Balram said suicides among teenagers was a growing concern, as they respond to over 20 cases of suicides and attempted suicides amongst teenagers each month.
“Most of the time we are told that the teenager had relationship problems with their boyfriend or girlfriend, or problems with their parents. When parents discipline or take away phones from teenagers, they turn to suicide or suicide attempts.
“We have also found that the teenagers who kill themselves had threatened to do so on previous occasions, and the threats were not taken seriously.
“Another common factor which leads to suicide is when teenagers are in forbidden from entering into relationships, which their parents do not accept,” he added.