Boy (19) shoots self over mum's boyfriend

Police in Gweru are investigating a case in which a 19-year-old boy allegedly shot and killed himself using a revolver and left behind a suicide note.

The revolver, which the now deceased boy used to kill himself, is said to belong to his mother's boyfriend, a doctor by profession.

Acting police spokesperson for Midlands province, Asst Insp Emmanuel Mahoko confirmed the incident, which occurred on Monday afternoon.

Police identified the now deceased boy as Darlian Jeremiah Tanaka Maramwidze who was doing O-Level at Ambassador College in Gweru.

"On Monday morning, the now deceased left home in the company of his mother, Ms Biula Maramwidze into the city.
Ms Maramwidze dropped him at Ambassador College where he was supposed to sit for his Mathematics public examinations paper," said Asst Insp Mahoko.

He said after being dropped at the college gate, the boy, instead returned home where he then allegedly wrote a suicide note before shooting himself in the chest using a revolver, which was kept in his bedroom drawer.

"His body was later found in a pool of blood in the bedroom. The matter was reported to the police who attended to the scene," he said.

Asst Insp Mahoko said police recovered the suicide note and the revolver at the scene.

Sources close to the tragic incident told Chronicle yesterday that the boy had a long-standing dispute with his mother over her boyfriend, who was now co-habiting with them at their South View suburb house following the death in a traffic accident last year of the boy's father.

They said the boy disapproved of the coming in of his mother's boyfriend to their house.

"The boy has been at loggerheads with his mother since the coming in of her boyfriend but she has been refusing to budge."

The sources said this resulted in the boy deciding to write a suicide note before taking his life using his mother's boyfriend's gun.

Efforts to get a comment from Ms Maramwidze were fruitless yesterday as her mobile phone was being answered by a third party.

Meanwhile, police sources said the gun, which the boy used to commit suicide, had an expired licence.

Asst Insp Mahoko said he was still to verify if the gun's licence had expired or not.

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