14-year-old boy takes his own life with shoelace in Cross River

A 14-year-old boy identified as Donald reportedly took his own life using a simple shoelace as a makeshift noose.

The incident occurred on Saturday, October 28, and has left the many in shock and disbelief.

Donald, who was known to be a resident of Ekondo street, lived with his grandmother.

According to accounts from a close friend named Eyo, the day started seemingly ordinary, with Donald completing his morning chores before he went out to buy fufu, a local cassava meal.

Little did anyone know that this would be the last time he would be seen alive.

The tragic turn of events began when Donald did not return home after purchasing fufu.

His absence raised concerns among family and friends. Around noon on that fateful day, his grandmother, deeply worried and unable to make contact with him, called for the assistance of a carpenter.

The carpenter arrived promptly, but the scene he encountered was beyond shocking. Donald had hanged himself by tying a shoelace around his neck.

There was no furniture or object in sight that he could have used to support himself, indicating that he had somehow managed to fix the noose to a wall or some other structure.

”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”. 

“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,” Eyo said.