Costaatt student hangs herself before exams
Frustrated with her preparation for upcoming examinations, a student from the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of T&T, (Costaatt) committed suicide by hanging herself from a shed behind her home on Monday. Police said Khadija Dabideen, 19, of Samuel Cooper Trace, Sixth Company, New Grant, was found dead by her father Krishna Dabideen around 9 am.
Dabideen’s aunt Sita Jogie said her niece left a note in her diary explaining that she could not cope with the stress of exams. The teenager wrote that she was disappointed with her performance at the college over the last semester. Dabideen was training to be a medical laboratory technician. Jogie described her as a withdrawn teenager who did not confide in anyone.
She said the girl started suffering from depression in the lead-up to examinations which started at Costaatt on Monday. “She was really downhill. She was not bathing or eating. She was not cleaning her room. This was a pre-meditated suicide. She left several notes in her room to her father, her mother and her brothers explaining why she did not want to live,” Jogie said.
She explained that Dabideen’s parents Krishna and Kamaldaye tried to cheer her up with ice-cream but her depression continued. On Sunday, Krishna decided to take his daughter to a private doctor, but she refused. “She did not want to go. She locked herself in her room,” Jogie said.
Around 9 am on Monday, Krishna knocked on Dabideen’s bedroom door but he did not get an answer. He said he later heard the chickens clucking in the yard and when he looked out he saw his daughter hanging from a rope. “We don’t know what happened with her and why she had problems coping. She had so many opportunities. She got through to teach at Corinth and shortly after she started, she dropped out,” Jogie said.
She said she spoke to Dabideen at a family reunion two weeks ago and noticed that Dabideen was “very withdrawn.” Police said they have taken possession of Dabideen’s diary. An autopsy was expected to be performed yesterday at the San Fernando mortuary. Officials of Costaatt yesterday offered condolences to Dabideen’s family and said counselling services are provided for her fellow pupils.
“They are informed of this during orientation and also via the Costaatt’s Web site,” the official said. Princes Town police are continuing investigations into the suicide.
