‘Popular’ schoolboy, 12, dies after ‘Squid Game prank’ goes horribly improper at residence
Sebastian Cizman is believed to have been imitating a challenge that encourages youngsters to choke themselves until they pass out, which has been linked to multiple child deaths around the world
A “star” schoolboy was found dead after trying to recreate a scene from Squid Game as a prank, an inquest has heard.
Sebastian Cizman, 12, was found unresponsive at his family’s home during his younger brother’s First Holy Communion celebrations in June.
A coroner has now ruled he died by hanging after hearing he may have been trying to jokingly imitate a character who died in the same way in the hit South Korean Netflix drama.
Sebastian, described as “funny” and a “prankster”, had been playing happily in the garden at home in Castleford, West Yorks., when he decided to go into the house, saying he was tired.
Wakefield Coroners Court heard his cousin found Sebastian unresponsive upstairs while taking him an ice cream that Sebastian’s dad had brought home after finishing work. Sebastian was rushed to hospital but was tragically pronounced dead.
After speaking to his family, police believed he may have been trying to recreate what he had seen on Squid Game but things had gone tragically wrong, the heard was told.
The inquest heard that Sebastian was a fan of a game based on the dystopian thriller and that police had found a image on his phone of a character from the game who was found hanging.
A police investigation found no evidence that Sebastian had searched for any dangerous challenges via TikTok, but he had viewed Squid Game and had also searched YouTube for a first-aid video about “surviving choking alone.”
The inquest heard that the “speculation” surrounding dangerous challenges had been put forward shortly after his death but police had found no evidence to support it, YorkshireLive reported.
Detective Sergeant Paul Bayliss said the boy’s interest in Squid Game, and the character who took their own life whose image was found on his phone, coupled with his “prankster nature”, had provided a hypothesis to explain Sebastian’s tragic death.
Dr Philip Dore, headteacher at St Wilfred’s Catholic High School, said Sebastian had been a popular, happy and funny pupil who was good at making his class laugh.
He had been a form rep and had garnered more than 200 positive comments from staff and had previously been named “star of the class”.
Assistant coroner John Hobson described Sebastian’s death as a “very tragic set of circumstances” and noted that on the day he died that he had shared an image involving the game he had played.
Mr Hobson concluded that Sebastian died due to misadventure, which is defined as a deliberate act that unintentionally goes wrong and results in death.
Sebastian’s parents Marcin and Katarzyna said Sebastian was a happy boy who had no mental health problems. In a statement, they said that they believed his death was caused by a tragic accident.
Earlier this year, they called for urgent action to hold tech giants accountable for the dangerous videos being uploaded to their platforms and pushed on to their feeds.
Kasia, 37, an office clerk, told the Daily Mail: “They should take the people who are promoting these challenges and put them in prison, so no other child dies. These platforms don’t do anything. It is completely unchecked. They make money and they don’t care.
“It’s hard what I’m going to say, but I hope that the loss of my child is going to help some other children to understand.
“And for the people that run these social media platforms to do something, to stop it from happening. How many kids have to die until they will do something? My message to other parents is check your children’s phones before it is too late.”
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