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Distressing text leads to shocking discovery in house
The Ikageng police are investigating two inquest cases after the bodies of a 41-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman were found hanging from the roofs of their homes on Monday and last Thursday respectively. According to Const. Kelebogile Trom, Ikageng police spokesperson, the police were called to Ext. 11 on Monday night. They found a …
The Ikageng police are investigating two inquest cases after the bodies of a 41-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman were found hanging from the roofs of their homes on Monday and last Thursday respectively.
According to Const. Kelebogile Trom, Ikageng police spokesperson, the police were called to Ext. 11 on Monday night.
They found a 41-year-old man hanging from the roof of his RDP house. Trom says a family member received a distressing text and knew that something was wrong. He found the deceased and called the police.
She says the other inquest was a 27-year-old woman who was also found hanging from a roof in Kanana last Thursday. The police were called to the scene at about 10:00 and found the deceased.
The last time there was more than one inquest into possible suicides was during the last three months of last year, when there were five inquests.
At that time, Dr Elsabé Peters, a clinical psychologist from NWU, explained that family members should observe those close to them for signs of depression that could lead to suicide.
Signs to look out for include:
• A lack of enjoyment of life
• More bad than good days per week
• A change in eating patterns
• A change in sleeping patterns
• A lack of energy, which may seem to improve just before the suicide attempt
• Spending a lot of time thinking about suicide, whether verbalising these thoughts or not.
Dr Peters says previous suicide attempts are a huge risk factor if the depression has not been addressed medically. Other warning signs are people who start withdrawing from friends and family or who start saying goodbyes or give away special belongings to others.
‘The person at risk may start gathering the means to commit suicide, for example, a lot of pills or having access to a firearm or searching for a piece of hosepipe to gas themselves.
‘He or she may start researching the topic of suicide on the internet.
Statistics show that men tend to prefer more lethal attempts than women and the latest research indicates that a history of a head injury or severe concussion is linked to suicidal thoughts or actions,’ she said.
