A 52-year-old Japanese national was found hanged at his homestay in Denpasar, with police believing that the victim committed suicide.
“The victim was desperate to end his life by hanging himself, [we] suspect it’s because he was depressed about the headaches he hasn’t been able to recover from,” Ketut Sukadi, spokesman from the Denpasar City Police, said.
A witness, identified as TBS, told the police that the victim, identified by his initials NT, had been suffering headaches since March 17, and would often stagger when he’s walking. TBS, who’s a friend of NT, was visiting him on Monday evening and briefly went out to buy him food, only to return to the latter’s room and find him hanging in front of the bathroom.
NT reportedly worked as a tour guide for Japanese tourists, but had mostly stayed inside his room throughout the pandemic. NT had been staying in the homestay since 2019 and never had any problems, according to the staff, until he started complaining of headaches last month.
“Not long after, he’d often complain and said, ‘Am I going to die?’ and never comes down from his room,” Sukadi said.
Indonesia currently does not have a fully functioning government-run suicide prevention hotline, but if you or anyone you know is suffering from depression and/or contemplating suicide, you can get more information and resources from several local NGOs dealing with mental health and suicide prevention, such as intothelightid.org and Bali-based Love Inside Suicide Awareness (LISA) helpline at +628113855472.
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