The Judiciary Police (PJ) were notified by the Fire Services Bureau (CB) at 2:39 p.m. on Monday that a woman had hanged herself in the stairwell in a residential building near Fortaleza de Dona Maria II, according to a PJ statement on Monday.
The victim’s family told the police they discovered that the victim had hanged herself at 2 p.m. when they threw rubbish into the chute, the statement said, adding that the deceased had recently expressed suicidal thoughts.
A preliminary examination of the body confirmed that the victim’s injuries were consistent with those caused by hanging, and no suspected criminal injuries were found, the statement said, adding that the exact cause of death had yet to be determined by forensic examination.
Wong comments on suicide cases
During a press conference about Macau’s 2023 crime statistics yesterday, Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak noted that Macau recorded 88 deaths by suicide in the first post-pandemic year of 2023, up 10 percent from 80 in 2022, with the youngest victim aged only 14.
Wong underlined that the age group with the highest number of suicides was between 35 and 44 years old, accounting for 20 cases. This was followed by the age groups of 45-54 and 55-64, both recording 16 cases.
In order to respect the privacy of the victims’ families and friends, the Judiciary Police do not disclose each victim’s exact age. However, Wong noted that the police use the following age categorisation concerning suicides –individuals under the age of 30 being classified as young, those between 31 and 60 being considered middle-aged, and individuals over the age of 60 categorised as elderly.
Wong clarified the suicide victims’ age categorisation after a Chinese-language media reporter had urged the police to disclose each victim’s exact age.
All those beset by anxiety or despair can phone Macau Caritas’s Life Hope Hotline – 28525222 for Cantonese and 28525777 for English speakers.
