Suspected suicide shocks Bandung

Suspected suicide shocks Bandung

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A teenage girl apparently committed suicide by hanging herself
from the top of a door frame in her house in Bandung regency,
West Java, on Friday.

The death of 14-year-old Fitri Aprianti, a second-year student
at Cipeundeuy state junior high school, shocked people in the
Babakan Bojong area, who were preparing to break the fast at the
time.

Dozens of residents gathered at Fitri's house as police sought
clues as to what happened. If found to be suicide, Fitri's death
will be the latest of a series of cases involving children and
teenagers taking their own lives over the past year.

"We are still investigating the case, but preliminary findings
at the scene of the incident suggest that it was suicide," a
police officer told Antara.

Newly installed Cipeundeuy Police sub-precinct chief, Adj.
Comr. Asep Gunawan, is directly leading the investigation into
the girl's death.

Fitri was found dead by her mother hanging from the top of the
door frame with a plastic rope around her neck. Her father was
working in neighboring Bandung city when the incident occurred.

Detectives found no traces of violence on Fitri's body.

In the previous cases, the young people who committed suicide
hailed from poor families. Some of them took their own lives
after their parents could not pay their school fees or fees for
extra-curricular activities.

Antara did not mention whether Fitri came from a poor family.

Her family refused to permit an autopsy on her remains.

"The family of the victim objected to an autopsy, therefore
her body was not sent to the Hasan Sadikin Hospital morgue," a
detective said.