13-year old commits suicide in Effiekumah, Ghana

Residents of Effiekumah in the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolis were early this morning stunned when a 13-year-old Class 6 pupil committed suicide for no apparent reason.

She was said to have woke up early morning and

The deceased, Salamatu Yakubu, was said to have shown no signs of depression or any visible signs that indicated her intentions to take her life.

Family members who were speechless after discovering the body of the deceased, said she woke up this morning with other siblings in the same room.

One of them, Madam Fusieniatu Dawdu, explained that the deceased was staying with the parents in Huni-valley near Tarkwa in the Prestea Humi-Valley District and moved to the metropolis early this year to stay with them.

She said the deceased's duty was to sweep the compound which she carried out every morning and that when she woke up this morning she headed to the direction of an uncompleted structure opposite the house.

She said the deceased was keeping long in returning and they thought she was attending to the call of nature.

Madam Dawdu said the sister who slept on the same bed with her had finished what she was doing and went near the uncompleted building to fetch fuel wood and saw the sister hanging in the building.

"She shouted for help but by the time we got to the scene our daughter was already dead," she said as tears rolled down her cheeks.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the assembly member for the area, Mr Abudulai Tufelo, said the incident came as a shock to the entire community and that the police had been informed accordingly.

He said an interaction with the family indicated that, there was no problem with the deceased and the family and that she willingly moved from her district to stay with them for educational purposes.

He explained that the deceased was staying with the auntie in the same compound with other siblings and other members of the family.

Mr Tufelo said the police had taken over the situation and are currently investigating what led to her decision to take her life.

When contacted, the Takoradi Metropolitan Police directorate confirmed the incident and said that investigations are ongoing.

The body of the deceased has since been deposited at the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital morgue.

Source: Daily Graphics