Denied a laptop, boy, 13, hangs self

CEBU, Philippines - A 13-year-old boy committed suicide when his mother refused to buy him a laptop.

Aristotte John Gako hung himself using a nylon rope attached to a beam at the second storey of their house located in Barangay Poblacion East in the western town of Moalboal. The incident happened around 6pm last Thursday.

Gako’s mother, Odonea, said she was preparing dinner at that time when her son told her he would kill himself if she could not have a laptop.

“Maghikog ko kung di ko nimo palitan og laptop,” Odonea quoted Gako as saying.

When she refused owing to financial concerns, Gako ran upstairs and never came back down.

Odonea said she went upstairs when Gako did not heed her call for dinner. There, at her son’s room, she saw Gako hanging lifeless from the beam.

She rushed her son to the Badian District Hospital with the help of their neighbors, but he was declared dead on arrival. Gako’s remains now lie at the St. Francis Funeral Homes in Moalboal.

Police Officer 2 Jenelyn Awe of the Moalboal Police said the death of Gako’s father was also tragic. The father was saving Gako from a speeding motorcycle and was the one hit by the vehicle. He died from serious injuries.   (FREEMAN NEWS)