By Shirley Thomas

THE community of Baramita, in Barima-Waini Region, has again been plunged into mourning, with the suicide by hanging of a young indigenous male.The body of the 19-year-old was found lying on the floor of an unoccupied house at Barama Line, a village in Baramita, around mid-morning yesterday.

The lad did ‘odd jobs’, and when villagers made the gruesome discovery he reportedly had a piece of rope tied around his neck.
However villagers said they had no idea what led him to take his own life.

They recalled that young men in the neighbourhood had been playing cricket until late Wednesday afternoon and the now dead young man had participated in the game.

The house in which his body was found is said to be about 50 metres from the end of the Baramita airstrip where the game was being played. The body was taken to the Port Kaituma Hospital, where a post-mortem examination will be done to determine the cause of death.

In the meantime, police are continuing their investigations and have not ruled out foul play.

The deceased became orphaned around age 10 after his father reportedly committed suicide in 2007, while his mother died of malaria about four years later.

He is survived by seven siblings. Following the deaths of his parents, his siblings were taken into the care of various family members in different parts of the country.

Reports from a reliable source said that from 2007 to the present, 73 Carib persons from the Baramita community have committed suicide by hanging. The lad’s father is believed to have been among the first to have committed suicide in that manner.