BINGA: An 18-year-old teenager here has committed suicide by hanging after his family summoned him to explain allegations of impregnating his cousin.
The suicide took place last Sunday at Siansundu village under Chief Saba.
The cousin is a year younger than the now deceased.
However, NewZimbabwe.com could not establish how many months the pregnancy is and whether the now deceased raped her or they had an incestuous relationship.
Siansundu village head Elijah Munkuli who led a search team confirmed they found the deceased’s body hanging from a tree in a nearby bush with a wire around his neck.
He said the community was shocked by the incident.
“What we gathered was that on 22 August the now deceased (name withheld for ethical reasons) was invited to a family meeting after having impregnated his 17-year-old niece,” said Munkuli.
“After being quizzed by family elders, he admitted he had slept with the girl once,” said Munkuli.
The family meeting was adjourned after his confirmation. However, Sunday the now deceased disappeared from home.
“His mother looked for him. She entered his bedroom hut and found a suicide note on his bed. The note was written in Tonga and translated to English said: ‘I am fed up with life, till we meet in heaven. I admit that I impregnated her’,” said Munkuli.
“She alerted her neighbours and we started searching for him. We couldn’t find him on the first day and any hope of finding him alive was now fading. On 25 August at around 6 am, we proceeded to the bush and found his body hanging with a wire from a tree branch. That is when we invited police who came and took the body.”
Police confirmed receiving the report.
Binga magistrate Urgent Vundla had initially ruled out a postmortem to be carried out as there was no foul suspected but later ordered that it be done on the insistence of the family.
The boy’s body was ferried to the United Bulawayo Hospitals for a postmortem, but NewZimbabwe.com could not ascertain the results.
