By A Correspondent- A form 4 student at Msiteli High School in Bulawayo was found hanging from the roof of a beerhall on Friday in a suspected case of foul play.

A local publication reports that there are strong indications however, that Nhlanhla Radasa (17) may have been killed by his friends who then staged the suicide.

A source who spoke to the publication said that Nhlanhla’s friends ganged up on him and beat him up until he became unconscious after he kept on winning at gambling. The situation got out of hand after the deceased fell unconscious during the attack after the friends had refused to pay Nhlanhla his winnings resulting in the fistfight.

The source added,

We suspect that the friends tried to stage a suicide after realising that they had killed him. He may have been still alive but they must have panicked and hanged him there, thinking that he was dead.

Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube said,

I can confirm that we are dealing with a case where a 17-year-old male from Tshabalala suburb in Bulawayo was found hanging from roof trusses at a beer garden in the suburb. We are still carrying out our investigations.

“The deceased was found hanging there by workers at the beer hall and patrons who notified residents. The beer hall is very close to his home, therefore most of the people that gathered could recognise him and therefore his family was notified and police were called to the scene.

-StateMedia