A MAN from the dormant tin mining town of Kamativi allegedly hanged himself fearing arrest after hearing police were on his trail for bedding a 14-year-old girl from his neighbourhood.

Nkosilathi Mumpande, 26, who resided at Kamativi Compound, reportedly had a love affair with the juvenile leading to sexual intercourse.

In terms of the country’s laws, a girl under 16 years of age is regarded incapable of consenting to sex.

Mumpande hanged himself the following day at a nearby hill.

A friend he had earlier confided in discovered the body and alerted police.

“Police received a report of sudden death in Kamativi where a man committed suicide by hanging.

“The background of the case is that, earlier police received a report of having sex with a young person and the now deceased was implicated.

“He was summoned for initial inquiries and he admitted to the charge of having sex with a young person,” reads a police report.

He was released as police intended to proceed by way of summons after completing investigations.

Mumpande went home and told his friend, one Polite Sande that he wanted to kill himself as the case was haunting him.

On Saturday, Sande checked on his friend and got worried as he was not there while his mobile phone was not being answered.

“He told me last Friday that he was being haunted by the issue. On Saturday, I called his number to check on him and I got worried as no one was picking. I went to his house in the company of a friend and we couldn’t find him.

“We spotted his footprints going out of the yard, and because he had threatened to kill himself, I became suspicious and we traced his foot marks.”

They led us to the hill where we found his body hanging from a tree with a rope.

“I got so scared and could hardly move or say anything,” said Sande.

She said she reported the matter to the police who later retrieved the body.

Hwange magistrate Rangarirai Gakanje waived postmortem as no foul play was suspected.