Antiguan dead in Guyana from suspected suicide

Police in Guyana are investigating the death of 17-year-old Kareem Miller of Antigua who died at a private hospital on Wednesday afternoon in an alleged case of suicide.
The first-year University of Guyana student migrated to the South American country to pursue studies in Public Management and Politics as of September 2018.
A relative in Guyana, who spoke with OBSERVER media last night, said it was around noon when the security guard at the family’s Vryheids Lust home, on the East Coast of Demerara, saw Miller stumbling about the yard and vomiting.
The guard allegedly asked the teen what was wrong as he tried to get up, but he stumbled again and fell.
The security called on the maid and the family
immediately organised to rush the teen to the Woodlands Hospital, a private facility.
The relative said efforts to save his life were unsuccessful and Miller succumbed hours later at the hospital.
The teen’s relatives are Guyanese but he was born in Antigua where he resided and attended school all his life, until migrating to Guyana last year for further education.
His mother, Joy Miller of Bolans, was reportedly informed of her son’s death by another relative in Antigua, and she is said to be stricken with grief and in utter disbelief.
A source close to the family in Antigua told OBSERVER media that relatives spoke with Kareem Miller up to Tuesday night and all seemed well.
It was therefore shocking to learn the following day that the teen had allegedly ingested a poisonous substance and died as a result.
For years Guyana was considered the suicide capital of the world by virtue of a staggering rate of about 44 suicides per 100-thousand, set in 2012.
Government and social groups went on a public education drive in an attempt to reverse this deadly trend, Stabroek News reported months ago.
Senior Psychologist within the Mental Health Unit of the Ministry of Public Health in Guyana, Dr. Balogun Osunbiyi, confirmed late last year that the rate had dropped to 24.6 percent per 100-thousand in more recent years.