A 12-year-old boy, of Bush Lot, West Coast Berbice, was rescued in the nick of time after he attempted to hang himself yesterday.
His 18-year-old sister, who lives nearby, said she found her brother on the ground with the rope around his neck. He was also frothing, his eyes were turned up and his feet were “stiff.” She immediately slackened the rope to relieve his neck. She and her in-laws then took him over to their shack and gave him “sugar water and ah bathe he.”
The boy is reported to have made the attempt after he witnessed two boys taking advantage of a female relative.
When this newspaper got to the scene about one hour later, the family had still not taken him to the hospital because they “did not have passage.”
Someone later transported the boy to the Fort Wellington Hospital, where he was treated and sent away. The police were also informed and visited the area to take statements after hearing the circumstances that had led to the attempted suicide.
In the boy’s dilapidated shack, which was accessed through the broken stairway, the rope was still hanging from the ceiling and a bench was nearby. The boy’s sister, who is also struggling, said he does not own “any good clothes” or even a pair of footwear.
Stabroek News learnt that about six years ago the boy’s mother deserted him and his five siblings, including a sister and two old brothers, now 10, 13 and 14-years-old, respectively.
Along with the 18-year-old, a 20-year-old sister has moved on with her life. The other children were left in the care of their drunken father who was taken into custody about two months ago for not sending the two younger children to school. The two other brothers are living and working with residents in the village and are also not attending school.
After the father was released, he too abandoned the children and moved out of the area to live with another woman. A neighbour has been providing the boy and his younger sister food and a place to sleep in her one-bedroom shack. Meanwhile, the boy’s father visited the area recently and told a neighbour that he intended to return in August to repair his house.
