Ronald Abaho, a Makerere University student, was on Tuesday found with a bottle containing finely-smashed glasses mixed with rat poison, attempting to commit suicide after losing Shs 1.2m tuition fees in sports betting.
The poison was found under his bed in his rental house in Kikoni by his girl friend only identified as Charity who had paid him an impromptu visit.
On interrogation by Charity, Abaho who is a second year student of Software Engineering, testified that on Aug 21 his friend Justus advised him to go to Kings Sports Betting and look for quicker cash by betting that Athletico Madrid would win Alaves and Vitoria Setubal lose to Benfica, which odds produced Shs 3.7m receipt.
However, to Abaho’s shock, both matches ended in a 1-1 draw, making him lose all his tuition at once.
Following the stress caused by the loss, Charity said, Abaho decided to put an end to his life because there was no other source of the money, yet Makerere’s deadline for paying Shs 200, 000 commitment fee is next week.
Justus who is also a student at Makerere has since disappeared from Kikoni, a residential area for thousands of students at Uganda’s best university.
Charity has now called Abaho’s aunt to come and help her keep a keen eye on the 23-year-old so that he doesn’t end his life.
Abaho has since stopped eating but only drinks water. The poison was later poured.
However, Abaho’s plan to commit suicide after losing a football bet wouldn’t have been the news of it’s kind. On July 6 a Kenyatta University student was found hanging behind his mother’s house in Ondome in Uriri.
He left behind a note indicating that the money he was given to pay college fees had disappeared in betting and he saw no need of living. He had bet that Germany would win Italy in the quarter Euros 2016 quarter finals which match ended in a draw.
Reporting by CHRISTOPHER TUSIIME for Journalism@Mak
