Girl commits suicide after being beaten

A St Thomas family has been left dumbfounded after a 13-year-old girl committed suicide after her mother refused to allow her to attend a fun day.

The teen has been identified as Selena Stewart, an eighth-grade student at St Thomas Technical High School.

Reports from the Corporate Communications Unit (CCU) of the Jamaica Constabulary Force are that Stewart's body was found hanging from the ceiling of a latrine in Duckenfield, St Thomas.

According to the CCU, Stewart's mother beat her with a piece of board when she asked to attend the fun day.

It is reported that she ran to the back of the yard and hours later she was found hanging from the ceiling.

It is reported that Stewart's mother was called by the Golden Grove police for questioning.

Still baffled

Stewart's aunt, Doraine Flemmings, told THE STAR that she is still baffled as to what could have caused her niece to take her own life.

"All now we don't know the reason why she would a do that. Because it is not like she is wanting or anything like that," Flemings said.

Flemmings noted though that Stewart had the propensity to run away whenever her mother scolded her.

"Sometimes when her mother talks to her, she will like frown and run," Flemings said. "She run to the back part of the yard, but is not like she run away for nuh long time. Not even a day."

Flemmings said Stewart's mother method of scolding was not out of the ordinary.

"She beat them, yes, but she nuh abuse them," Flemmings said.

She said her brother, Stewart's father, is not coping well with the loss.

"Him tek it hard because the clothes that she was wearing when she die him wrap it around him head and the brassiere round him neck," Flemmings said.

Flemmings remembers her niece was a great dancer.

"All like the fun day that she did want to go, dem would put her up on stage to dance, and crowd would surround her. She was a nice little girl," Flemmings said.