Mother and father Alecia Richards and Errol Cunningham are saddened by the death of their 11-year-old son. - Dalton Laing

A 11-year-old boy left his community in shock on Tuesday when he is believed to have hanged himself after being accused of stealing less than $300.

Police in Westmoreland are investigating the alleged suicide of Javane Cunningham from Cain Carron district in the parish. His body was found by one of his cousins hanging from a low branch of a tree in his backyard.

A piece of rope was tied around the boy's neck.

THE STAR was told by members of the community that the child was accused of stealing the money by fellow students at the primary school which he attended.

Ever since the accusation three weeks ago, Cunningham is said to have stopped attending school.

Family members said he told them that he did not want to go back to school because of the situation, he would rather go to Copse (a place of safety for unruly children in the parish of Hanover).

His aunt Hyacinth Richards said that the situation could have been handled differently by the school. "This have us messed up and I think that if something happen at school, it could be sorted out better," she said, "if it was taken into hand properly."

One woman who gave her name as Sister Whyte from the local Seventh-day Adventist Church said the congregation is in shock about the incident. "He requested his baptism two years ago and we didn't know him as an outrageous child, so this is a shock to us all," she said.

When THE STAR spoke with teachers at the school, they said that at no time was Javane accused of stealing the money by the teachers. They said a small amount of money went missing and students were saying it was Javane, but at no time had they indicated that he might have taken it.