Student takes own life after misusing fees

Buikwe. A Senior Two student of Nyenga Senior Secondary School, Kigudu in Njeru Central Division, Njeru Municipality in Buikwe District, has been found dead after he allegedly committed suicide.

Some family members told Daily Monitor in an interview yesterday that the 16-year-old committed suicide after he misused money meant for his school fees.

Mutalabani Ssemugoma’s body was on Sunday found hanging in his bedroom at his home in Kiryowa Village.

“My brother was given an unspecified amount of fees by our mother but he did not reach school on that day. He returned on Saturday. When I asked him where he was on Friday, he told me that he was at the casino,” his brother, Isa Kabere, said.

He added that their parents, who had travelled to Iganga District at the weekend for burial, had instructed him to give Ssemugoma three strokes of the cane as punishment, which he did.

“However, at around 6pm on Sunday, the deceased reportedly bid his friends ‘farewell’ as they played football, saying he was going to kill himself but he was not taken seriously,” Mr Kabere said.
“They thought he was hurrying to take some water since they had been playing for the day; but he instead locked himself in the bedroom and hanged himself with a cloth,” he said.

The Ssezibwa regional police spokesperson, Ms Hellen Butoto, said police are investigating the matter. “Parents had instructed one of the brothers to give him three strokes of the cane which police are investigating,” she said.

The secretary of the village, Mr Charles Oloo, described the incident as “unusual and needs community policing and sensitisation of all residents.
By press time, police were yet to hand over the body to the family for post-mortem.

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