suicide – praag.org

Co-pilot had no death wish say friends

The co-pilot named in the Germanwings plane crash was Andreas Guenter Lubitz.

The 28-year-old was from Montabaur, a town in the district seat of the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, according to a local flight club.

Acquaintances said he was in his late 20s and showed no signs of depression when they saw him last autumn.

“He was happy he had the job with Germanwings and he was doing well,” said a member of a glider club, Peter Ruecker, who watched him learn to fly.

“He gave off a good feeling.”

Lubitz had obtained his glider pilot’s license as a teenager and was accepted as a Lufthansa pilot trainee after finishing a tough German college preparatory school, Ruecker said.

His Facebook page lists his interests, including German electronica band Schiller, French superstar DJ David Guetta, his local Burger King, 10-pin bowling, aviation humour and a technical website about the A320 model of aircraft he flew into a mountainside.

Marseille prosecutor Brice Robin said the co-pilot “never said a word” in the 10 minutes before the crash, which killed 150 people.

He said he never answered a question or opened the door before the plane hit the ground and the plane’s descent was “voluntary”.

The Federal Aviation Administration praised Lubitz’s skills and included him in the prestigious FAA Airmen Certification Database.

The database contains the names certified pilots who have “met or exceeded the high educational, licensing and medical standards established by the FAA”.

Aviation Business Gazette announced the award in September 2013, writing: “Pilot certification standards have evolved over time in an attempt to reduce pilot errors that lead to fatal crashes.

He had undertaken 630 hours of flight time in an A320, according to Germany’s Bild.

Mr Brice said earlier that co-pilot Lubitz directed the plane into the ground but the passengers only realised what was happening “in the last moments”.

“He took this action, for reasons we still don’t know why,” he said.

“We can only deduce he destroyed the plane. He voluntarily allowed the plane to lose altitude.

“I think the victims only realised at the last moment because on the recording you only hear the screams on the last moments.”

Source: The Mirror

Police commissioner working on Charlie Hebdo shootings found dead

A police commissioner, who had been investigating the attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine committed suicide with his service gun on Thursday night, French media reported.

Police commissioner Helric Fredou, who had been investigating the attack on the French weekly satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, was found dead in his office.

The incident occurred in Limoges, the administrative capital of the Limousin region in west-central France, on Thursday night, local media France 3 reports.

Helric Fredou, 45, suffered from ‘depression’ and experienced ‘burn out’ according to the official statement. Shortly before committing suicide, he met with the family of a victim of the Charlie Hebdo attack and killed himself just before completing the report.

Fredou began his career in 1997 as a police officer at the regional office of the judicial police of Versailles. Later he returned to Limoges, his hometown. Since 2012 he had been the deputy director of the regional police service.

Suspected criminal found hanged in a police cell

During the early hours of yesterday morning Sunday 26 January 2014 at about 05:00, during a routine cell visit in the Pietermaritzburg Police Station, members found the body of an adult male hanging from an overhead burglar guards. He was subsequently identified as Stanley Bongani Mkhize (46).It is believed that one of the prisoners who were in a cell with Mkhize woke up and found Mkhize hanging from the neck by a state issued blanket and immediately informed members. No foul play is suspected. A post mortem will be held to determine the exact cause of death. The suspect had been arrested for a murder case which occurred in the Plessislaer area in 2011.

It is alleged that on the 10 May 2011 at about 20:00, the Shoba family were returning to their home in the Imbali Unit J area and were about to enter their house when they were attacked and shot at by a group of unknown gunmen. Both the victim’s, a 38-year-old man and his 35-year-old wife, sustained gunshot wounds to their upper body and were immediately rushed to a hospital in the city. The male victim sustained gunshot wounds to his head and died on arrival at the hospital, whilst his wife sustained gunshot wounds to her chest. She was treated and later discharged.

In June 2011 Police made a breakthrough and arrested Mkhize and his two co-accused in the Plessislaer area in Pietermaritzburg for murder and attempted murder of the victims, however, the suspects were released on bail and Mkhize then absconded court. A warrant for his arrest was issued and an appeal for his whereabouts was published in the media. The trial of his two co-accused continued in court and in 2013 both accused were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.

On Friday, 24 January 2014 at about 00:30, members of the SAPS Pietermaritzburg Organised Crime Unit, on information received, proceeded to the Edendale area in Plessislaer where they spotted the wanted Mkhize driving in a vehicle along the road. They immediately stopped the vehicle and re-arrested the suspect. He was expected to make his court appearance for the alleged murder and attempted murder of the Shoba family today, Monday 27 January 2014.

Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident. – SAPS media service

Suicide of Cape wine farmer unconfirmed

Reports that one of the men accused of assaulting Flippie Engelbrecht had committed suicide could not be immediately confirmed on Tuesday.

Johnny Burger, owner of Rietvallei Wine Estate, appeared in court last month for allegedly assaulting farmworkers Flippie and his father Flip in 2008.

He and co-accused Willem Treurnicht were to have appeared in the Ashton Regional Court next week on two charges of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.

According to the Rapport website, Burger shot and killed himself at his farm on Tuesday morning.

Western Cape police would only confirm that an inquest docket was opened following the death of a 62-year-old man at his Ashton farm around 08:30 on Tuesday.

“Circumstances indicate that the person was responsible for his own death. However, the matter will be investigated,” police spokesperson Andre Traut said.

He said the man’s identity would not be released at this stage.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in the province said it had not been informed of any related death.

“We are, therefore, not in a position to comment directly or indirectly on the alleged passing of the accused,” provincial NPA spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said.

Flippie, 20, was left blind and started having epileptic seizures after the attack.

During one of his seizures, he fell into a fire and had to have his hands amputated.

His legal advisor Carina Papenfus said he was recently fitted with prosthetic hands.

She said the criminal matter was set to resume next Friday. – Sapa

Suicide in KZN fitness test recounted

A paramedic saw a man cutting his own throat after he failed a KwaZulu-Natal Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI) fitness test, an inquiry heard on Monday.

“He told me he was a failure and he deserved to die,” Emergency Medical Rescue Services supervisor Agrinette Shoba said.

“He was lying on his right side… holding a broken beer bottle in his right hand, and he had grabbed his throat with his left hand, and he was continuing to cut himself; at that stage, he was bleeding profusely,” Shoba said.

Shoba was testifying before a commission of inquiry in Pietermaritzburg about the death of Sanele Ngcobo, who was found with a 13cm wound across his neck after taking part in the fitness test.

The commission is probing the deaths of eight people who took part in a four kilometre run at the Harry Gwala Stadium in Pietermaritzburg.

The race formed part of a fitness test for RTI job applicants. More than 34 000 people qualified to apply for 90 advertised RTI trainee posts. Of these, 15 600 attended a fitness test on December 27, and a similar number on December 28.

Shoba said she was called by a young man, who told her there was someone outside the stadium who was screaming and bleeding. She went to investigate and found Ngcobo.

“There were no signs indicating that there was a struggle. He had the bottle neck on his neck, half of the bottle was behind him,” Shoba said.

“I commented on how he was smartly dressed and how he did not seem to come from a poor family. I said I see no reason for him to do something so painful.”

At the time of his death, Ngcobo was in his final year of study for a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Zululand. He was also the father of a three-month-old boy.

Shoba said when she spoke to Ngcobo he was cutting himself and he could understand what was going on.

His eyes were open, he could respond to instructions and he was verbally responsive.

“I could see how deep his wound was as he was talking, I could see bubbles coming out of his wound, his trachea was cut,” she said.

In July, Ngcobo’s aunt ,Thembi, told the commission that her nephew was desperate to find a job because he wanted to take over raising his son.

Shoba described the participants treated at the stadium as being dehydrated, hysterical and disorientated.

“They were seeing things that no other people could see. Others claimed to see their men coming to fetch them,” she said. – Sapa

Child rape accused hangs himself, inquest opened

Police have opened an inquest docket after a man accused of raping 34 children and two women committed suicide in his prison cell, a prison official said on Thursday.

“The Mondeor police are investigating following his death in his cell. He was staying in a single cell, as he was a high risk offender,” said Gauteng correctional services spokesman Ofentswe Morwane.

Sifiso Makhubu, 42, was to have appeared on 122 charges in the High Court in Johannesburg, sitting in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court, on Thursday.

However, he hanged himself with a piece of blanket on Wednesday night. He was being held at Johannesburg prison, also known as Sun City.

“Prison officials found him hanging in his cell this morning [Thursday] when they went to fetch him to take him to court,” said Morwane

The charges he faced included rape, kidnapping, murder, robbery, and attempted murder by infecting his victims with HIV. The crimes took place in the Kathorus area, in Vosloorus, during 2006.

He was arrested in 2011. – Sapa

More U.S. troops died by suicide than in Afghanistan combat in 2012

Suicides by active duty U.S. troops last year exceeded the number of servicemen and women killed in combat in Afghanistan. More than half of the soldiers who killed themselves had already sought help from a mental health

The statistics are stunning. According to the Associated Press, suicides among active-duty troops reached a new high last year. The suicide rate has been rising since 2001. And last year, 349 service members took their lives, much more than the 295 killed in combat in Afghanistan. The suicide figures are tentative, pending completion of pathology reports later this year.

This is a rising trend.It’s an uptick that over the past several years, where we have seen more and more soldiers take their lives with suicide and unfortunately also die in other accidents.It’s the tip of an iceberg of a bigger problem affecting the force at large.

About 100,000 or so Army soldiers and Marines will be leaving the military. There are going to be budget cuts. And all these things are putting great burden on the leadership and great burden on the soldiers on the front lines.

What should be recognized is that this is an epidemic, in the sense that it’s across the Army. The whole Army has been — and Marine Corps and the other services.

An estimated 22 military veterans take their lives every day in America, according to the study helmed by Robert Bossarte, an epidemiologist and researcher who works with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“While the percentage of all suicides reported as Veterans has decreased, the number of suicides has increased,” the conclusion of the study stated.

Specific trends were observed during the course of the study regarding the age and gender of veterans who most frequently committed suicide.

“A majority of Veteran suicides are among those age 50 years and older. Male Veterans who die by suicide are older than non-Veteran males who die by suicide,” the study’s findings stated. “The age distribution of Veteran and non-Veteran women who have died from suicide is similar.”

The study was conducted over the course of two years, and is, according to Bossarte, indicative mainly of veteran suicides playing a part in what is a national problem.

“There is a perception that we have a veterans’ suicide epidemic on our hands.”

The Washington Post is reporting that the rate of veteran suicides discovered by Bossarte is approximately 20 percent higher than 2007 figures offered by the VA.