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Hanged girl: Shocking twist

Beeld, via News24.com, South Africa
May 12, 2006
Eduan Roos
www.news24.com

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Friday May 12, 2006

Johannesburg – In a shocking twist to the tragic death of a 15-year-old girl who hanged herself in Emmerentia in Johannesburg, it appears as though her biological father also committed suicide several years ago.

It is believed that the girl filmed her suicide with a digital camera.

According to police, the girl – whose name has not been released – hanged herself between 14:30 and 16:00 in her room with a dog leash from a security gate leading to the garden.

Superintendent Chris Wilken said police are investigating the footage found on the camera in the room.

The girl had apparently told her mother that she was going to lie down in her room. Her stepfather was away at a cafe and when he came back, wanting to take something to her in her room, came upon the body.

No suicide note was found at the scene and it is unclear if the girl was suffering from depression.

A report will be compiled after the footage on the digital camera has been studied, Superintendent Wilken said.

An autopsy will be held and no more information will be released before then, he added.

The girl’s father apparently took his own life two or three years ago.

A staff member of Greenside High School, where the girl was a pupil, said many pupils had to receive counselling following news of her death.

“Many of them are struggling to accept it,” the spokesperson said, adding that everything possible was done to assist them.