Warning: This article contains references to suicide.
SINGAPORE: An 18-year-old on Friday (Dec 1) pleaded guilty to killing a fellow River Valley High School student with an axe on campus in 2021.
The youth cannot be named as he committed the offence when he was a minor under the age of 18.
During the hearing, the court lifted the gag order on the identity of the victim at the request of his parents, naming him as Ethan Hun Zhe Kai.
On Jul 19, 2021, the 13-year-old boy was found lying motionless with multiple wounds in a toilet at River Valley High School located in Boon Lay. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The offender, then a 16-year-old Secondary 4 student, admitted to slashing the victim’s head, neck and body with an axe between 11.16am and 11.44am that day.
The students did not know each other. The offender picked the victim “entirely at random” in order to carry out a plan which would result in his own death as the police intervened in a life-threatening situation.
The offender suffered from major depressive disorder at the time, and had also watched online videos that desensitised him to the taking of a life, the court heard.
The prosecution, which described the case as “truly unprecedented”, is seeking 12 to 16 years’ jail for the offender. The defence is asking for five years’ imprisonment.
Justice Hoo Sheau Peng will hear arguments on the sentence as the hearing continues on Friday.
The offender originally faced the capital charge of murder. His charge was reduced in February after the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) assessed that he was suffering from clinical depression at the time of the incident.
According to past court hearings, he was previously seen as a patient at IMH, including after a suicide attempt when he was 14.
The punishment for committing culpable homicide not amounting to murder is life imprisonment with caning, or a jail term of up to 20 years with a fine or caning.
The killing on school grounds prompted a public outpouring of grief and shock.
Days after the incident, Education Minister Chan Chun Sing delivered a ministerial statement in parliament about the impact on the school community and the psychological support given to students and staff.
One year after the incident, River Valley High School had increased access to mental health support for its students and staff, including by having more counsellors.