Boy accidentally hangs himself on hammock rope

Adam Frank of Pasea Road in Granville was found in a kneeling position with the hammock wrapped around his neck. He was taken to the Point Fortin Area Hospital where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy at the San Fernando General Hospital mortuary revealed death was as a result of asphyxia.

Relatives said they were watching television when, shortly after 8 pm, a female relative saw Adam kneeling with the hammock around his neck near the kitchen.

Moments earlier he was seen walking about in the house “as normal” relatives said.

Adam’s father McAllister Frank, 37, told Newsday his only son often played games in the hammock by wrapping it around himself and spinning around.

Frank, who has two daughters, said somehow the game ended in death and although relatives were at home, no one heard any scream.

“It appeared he made a knot with the hammock and placed his head in and then tried to spin,” Frank said. “It was an accident.

This is no suicide thing. Adam never did it before with his neck, only with his waist. He was playing and somehow this happened.” Adam, a former pupil of the Granville RC Primary School, was expected to enter form one at the Cedros Secondary School next week.

“Adam was excited to go in his new school. He was really looking forward. We bought everything already - books, uniform, sneakers.

He was such a nice child,” said a visibly shaken Frank.

Other relatives complained that had doctors at the hospital been more proactive, Adam may have been alive today.

“First we called for an ambulance and none showed up.

When we reached in the hospital a doctor pronounced Adam dead while he was still alive. The doctor leaned over Adam without touching him or anything. He just said that he (Adam) was dead and walked away,” said a relative.

Funeral arrangements are being made and Cedros police are investigating.

In April, 15-year-old Luke Israel Rolle, of Claxton Bay, accidentally hung himself while swinging on a tree. According to police, children in the Forres Park area were accustomed playing on the swing made from nylon rope and which was attached to a tree branch.