See: mata bo salah eh! Sorry, only according to state counsel.
SINGAPORE: At the close of an inquiry into schoolboy Benjamin Lim’s death on Wednesday (Aug 3), State Counsel Wong Woon Kwong maintained the 14-year-old had been handled “sensitively and appropriately” by police officers who had come into contact with him the day he died.
Benjamin died of multiple injuries on Jan 26, after falling from his family home in Yishun. Earlier in the day, at about 10am, he had been taken to the principal’s office and questioned by the police over a molestation allegation.
After Benjamin admitted he had deliberately touched an 11-year-old girl in a lift, officers took him back to the police station. He was released into his mother’s custody at about 2.50pm, Mr Wong said.
The State had taken pains to present evidence – calling five witnesses to the stand, including Benjamin’s discipline mistress and principal – showing there was “nothing to suggest to the school or the police that (Benjamin) was a suicide risk”, Mr Wong said.
“The only time (Benjamin) exhibited heightened stress levels was during the telephone conversation with his mother” before being taken from his school to the police station, Mr Wong added. Other than that, police officers who had come into contact with Benjamin said the boy seemed “calm and normal … (and) did not show signs of distress”.
Counsel for Benjamin’s family Choo Zheng Xi offered an alternative explanation for Benjamin’s “distress”. “His distress could have either arisen from the volume of his mother’s voice, or because he had been asked to explain an embarrassing situation in front of five or six adults”, Mr Choo said.
After returning home from the police station, Benjamin’s mother and sister had observed that he appeared normal, Mr Wong said. “His mother and sister were the last two persons who interacted with him and were in the best position to assess if (he) was acting erratically” before he fell to his death, he added.
However, “they had not seen it necessary to keep (Benjamin) under close watch or supervision”, Mr Wong stated. It was only when Benjamin’s mother found his bedroom door locked at about 4.20pm that she sensed something was amiss.
Benjamin was found dead at the foot of his block soon after.
Mr Wong also addressed the fact that Benjamin, when questioned by his mother, had denied having molested the girl, despite telling the police the opposite hours earlier.
“If you said I did it, then I did it,” Benjamin reportedly told his mother. “This denial to his mother and sister provides some glimpse of how (he) may have harboured concerns about the perceptions of those closest to him”, Mr Wong said.
State Coroner Marvin Bay will deliver his findings on Aug 18.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/benjamin-lim-handled/3009636.html