AS the suicide figures continue to climb locally, a 34-year-old Sophia man is alleged to have hung himself in a bathroom at his home, adding his name to the growing list of victims. The tragedy reportedly happened sometime after 22:00 hrs on Sunday last.Dead is Deon Adams of 1192 ‘B’ Field Sophia, an employee of the National Milling Company (NAMILCO). He was the husband of Candace Adams and son of Julita Adams, of 625 ‘B’ Field Sophia.
But though his death has been ruled a suicide, the police are not entirely convinced and have not ruled out foul play.
It is for this very reason when the investigating rank did not show up for the post mortem examination on Wednesday morning at the GPHC mortuary, that the procedure had to be re-scheduled and the body taken back to the Lyken’s Funeral Parlour.

The dead man’s mother told the Chronicle that sometime after 23:00hrs on Sunday, she was lying in bed when the phone rang. On answering it, she realised that it was her daughter-in-law, Candace, on the other end, telling her: “Big ‘J’, yuh son, Deon, just hang he’self.”
The distraught woman said she hurried down to her son’s home, where she saw his wife sitting on a chair by the roadside, and some people with her.
The woman said she ran up to her daughter-in-law, asking, “Where is meh son? Whe’ meh son?” But nobody said anything. She asked to see him, but that request also fell on deaf ears.
She said when she arrived on the scene, she had at least expected her daughter-in-law to hug her and say, “Moms, Deon gone!” But that did not happen.
“But what hurt me even more, is that I never got a chance to see my son, even though I asked to see him,” Julita said. Her eyes brimming with tears, she said it was not until he was taken to the funeral parlour that she was able to catch a quick glimpse of his face.
She said the information she got was that Deon’s wife, Candace, said he had hung himself in a bathroom at their home. He was hanging by a belt from the roof of the bathroom, with a belt around his neck and was in a kneeling position, with his knees on the ground.

EVIDENCE TAMPERING
It is alleged that when she discovered her husband in that state, Candace and her big son cut him down, placed him on the floor of the bathroom, then called the police. That was shortly after 10:0hrs. Yet it took her more than one hour to make contact with her, according to her mother-in-law.
Candace, meanwhile, is sticking to her story; that she and her husband had no quarrel on the day in question; that they had cooked and had dinner together, then she went to bed, leaving him watching television, while he chipped squash for her to cook the following morning.
She said she distinctly recalled hearing him go down the front stairs, but could not say what happened after that. All she knows is that she later went to the bathroom and found him hanging.
However, the dead man’s mother and other relatives are saying that the relationship between Deon and Candace was stormy; that he was often physically abused not just by her, but her brother and a cousin as well.
She vividly recalls that on one occasion, which was in July 2013, they’d beaten Deon so badly, there were severe marks of violence about his body. That matter, she said, was subsequently taken up with a lawyer.
Deon Adams is the father of three, and the fourth of six children for his parents, Julita Adams and Neville Bradford.

By Shirley Thomas