A 14-year-old identified simply as Donald reportedly committed suicide by tying a shoe race around his neck on Saturday afternoon.

Donald resides with his grandmother at 49, Ekondo Street in Calabar, Cross River State.

His friend who spoke with Vanguard said, “After going to buy the fufu, nobody heard from him again until about 12 noon when the grandmother called a carpenter to help him bring the boy down from where he was leaning on the wall with a rope on his neck.

The carpenter asked what happened but the woman did not say anything tangible prompting the carpenter to run out of the premises to raise alarm.

“Nobody heard any noise from the compound until the carpenter ran out and raised alarm and we all went inside the compound. The boys legs were on the floor, there was no table or object which the boy climbed on to fix his head on the noose and the string round his neck was just a shoe lace”. The friend added.

He said when police from Atakpa Police Station came to assess the situation, they however went back without touching the boy.

“The police did not touch the boy and and others who were called to take the boy down did not touch the body and when the woman was asked to take the boy down she refused”.

Another resident of the street said he is wondering how the boy could have committed suicide with just a shoe lace.

“There is no how the boy could tie that tiny rope on his neck to commit suicide without the shoe lace cutting”.

He added that he keeps seeing the boy in his dream seeking for justice.

“We were very close and since Saturday afternoon when I saw him leaning on that wall with a rope round his neck, each time I sleep, I see him and he .keeps asking for justice. All these are happening because the boy is an orphan. His dad and mother are both dead.”