From Straits Times 271108,
Teen’s death plunge: Suicide
By Elena Chong
A 15-YEAR-OLD student leapt to his death after his parents tried to dissuade him from switching his co-curricular activity, a coroner’s court heard.Shortly before the incident on Feb 13, Tan Wen Yi had told his parents he had lost his inspiration to run and insisted on switching to drama.
At the end of the discussion, the Secondary 3 student of Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) said: ‘In fact, I plan to do it in March but I am going to do it now.”
He headed towards his bedroom.
Sensing something amiss, his mother followed him.
She was a few steps away when he jumped 11 floors from the bedroom window of a condominium in Bukit Timah.
Investigation officer Staff Sergeant Raymond Chng from Tanglin police division stated that earlier that day, Wen Yi was playing soccer with his friends in school.
On seeing this, his track and field teacher, Mr Ng Yeong Joo, 38, questioned him for not attending his training session.
After Mr Ng had left, Wen Yi complained to his classmate that he had to attend make-up training session four times a week. He said he wanted to die but his classmate thought he was joking.
They continued playing until 6.30pm.
Along the journey home in the same bus, Wen Yi was jovial and did not appear to be depressed.
The court heard that a day earlier, Wen Yi sent a text message to another classmate saying he would commit a crime one day and ‘climb to the top of the building and jump down, as a final feat of rebellion and let my craziness be known to the world.”
Wen Yi, who had won two medals in a major competition last year, was well-liked by his classmates, the inquiry heard.
State Coroner Earnest Lau recorded a verdict of suicide on his death on Wednesday.
An additional paragraph from the print edition of Straits Time today, page b4:
His parents were not in court yesterday. Asked why by State Counsel Lee Cheow Han, Staff Sgt Chng said the couple have gone overseas to forget what had happened. They have another child, aged 10.
I think this parents very power, child commit suicide in front of them because of their dictatorship rule, and they are clear-minded enough to go overseas to try to forget about the incident.
Well, everyone has different ways of coping with trauma, just that I find it interesting as this couple’s way of coping with the death of a son is the same as that I will do if my pet dog dies.
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