Inquest finds student stabbed himself [1]
Wednesday, April 4, 2012 - 18:35. Updated on Monday, September 9, 2013 - 18:40.
An inquest held this morning found that a 12-year-old boy Ha'apai High School student who died from severe chest wounds last week, had stabbed himself.
Inspector 'Okusitino Peleki, Officer Commanding at Ha'apai Police Station told Matangi Tonga this afternoon that the inquest panel found that the boy took his own life by stabbing himself on the chest with a cooking knife at his home in the school compound, on Friday March 30.
He said substantial evidence from his classmates and teacher revealed that an incident during his final class left the young boy embarrassed regarding a joke about a girl he liked in class, and that the boy told some of his friends after class he would rather die.
Police investigation found that his class finished after 3pm and the boy went home instead of attending the after school assembly. His brother and another boy returned home after the assembly and found him lying inside the house with the knife in his chest but he was still breathing. There was no one at home so they called for help and the boy was rushed to Niu'ui Hospital where he died shortly after 4pm, he said.
Inspector Peleki said the doctor confirmed the cause of death was due to the severe stab wounds to his chest, which injured the right side of his heart. He found no other marks on the boy's body to suggest any suspicion or foul play to the cause of death. "It is also our investigation's conclusion that he took his own life," he said.
This is the first suicide case in Ha'apai for the year, and it is probably their youngest victim in recent years.
Ha'apai had only one suicide case last year. The boy from Fasi in Tongatapu was in Form 2 at Ha'apai High School where his brother is a teacher. His body arrived by air in Tongatapu this afternoon and his funeral will be held on April 5.