Girl, 6, who was sent to her room as punishment is one of the youngest people to have committed suicide in US



Samantha Kuberskki was found hanging by a belt at her home in Oregon after being sent to her room for arguing with her mother

A six-year-old girl who was sent to her room for punishment is feared to be one of the youngest people to have ever committed suicide in the U.S.

Samantha Kuberskki was found hanging by a belt at her home in Oregon after being sent to her room for arguing with her mother.

Her death was ruled as suicide by the coroner - sparking a bitter row with police who investigated her death and insist it was an accident.

Detectives who interviewed the family insist the girl did not know what she was doing when she tied a corduroy belt around her neck.

'Our investigators feel that it does appear that Samantha may have done the actions that led to her death,' said Captain Dennis Marks, who headed the investigation.

'But we find it hard to believe that she would have intentionally done that, which we feel is part of committing suicide.'

The shocking incident took place last December after Samantha returned home from school with her three sisters.

After arguing with her mother Kellie she was sent to her bedroom as punishment.

Mrs Kuberskki later found her daughter hanging from a the top rail of a disused cot and desperately tried to revive her.

Her father Graham arrived home just as paramedics were rushing Samantha to hospital where she later died.

It emerged that Samantha had been told off previously for playing with the belt, but had expressed no suicidal intentions.

The medical examiner for Portland, Oregon, ruled the girl's death as suicide.

Psychiatrists Dr. Kirk Wolfe agreed with the police version that the girl did not realise what she was doing.

'Most kids this age are not aware of what death actually is,' he said.

'Not until they get to be 8, 9 and 10 do they understand death is final and you don't come back.'