Singapore teen admits to killing River Valley High schoolmate with axe more than 2 years after case shook city state

The teenager, now 18, pleaded guilty to one charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder on Friday.

The accused, who was 16 at the time, cannot be named due to a gag order, as the law forbids the publication of identities of young persons under 18 who are involved in court proceedings.

However, a gag order on the name of the victim was lifted at the request of the parents of the victim.

Mervyn Cheong and Lim Yi Zheng from Advocatus Law, who represent the victim’s parents, said that the parents had requested for the gag order to be lifted as they want to remember Ethan fondly, without wondering if they might breach the court order.

A statement by Ethan’s parents, Hun Yew Kwong and Sng Hui Ching, through his lawyers read: “We are heartbroken. We believe many who knows (sic) Ethan will be too. Yet, we want to encourage everyone to remember Ethan fondly instead.

“Remember him for his goodness, his kind heart, and his peace-loving nature. Remember that he would want us to be happy.”

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According to the statement of facts, the slashing occurred on July 19, 2021, sometime between 11.16am and 11.45am (local time) at a toilet in River Valley High School, located in Boon Lay.

The teenager had locked himself in a toilet cubicle and taken out an axe and knife he had brought to school and waited in the cubicle until someone entered.

At around 11.28am, Ethan entered and the teenager approached him from behind, before proceeding to slash the head, neck and body of the boy.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Kumaresan Gohulabalan and Seah Teh told the court that the teenager had apologised to the victim in the middle of the attack and decided to stop his plan of killing other students after seeing that the boy lay motionless.

The teen then called two to three groups of students and asked them to call the police after the fatal assault. He was later approached by a teacher who asked him to drop the axe. He complied to the request.

At 11.41am, the accused called the police and said: “I just killed someone with an axe, I don’t know who. Are you going to send someone or not?”

Another teacher arrived and moved the axe further away from the teenager and called the police after entering the toilet.

Paramedics from the Singapore Civil Defence Force pronounced the boy dead at the scene.

The prosecution told the court that the teenager did not know Ethan and had picked a victim “entirely at random”.

Before the incident, the teenager had contemplated suicide and explored ways of committing suicide from January that year.

After a failed attempt to end his life in February two years earlier, the teenager came to the conclusion that the only way he could overcome the “psychological barrier” of taking his own life was to commit the offence and induce law enforcement to cause his death while intervening in the situation.

He had also become desensitised to violence and the thought of taking a life after watching online videos and suffered from major depressive disorder at the time.

The prosecution asked for a jail term of 12 to 16 years imprisonment.

In reference to the testimonials tendered by the family and friends of the teenager by his lawyer attesting to his character, DPP Kumaresan said it was “heartening” to hear others willing to say positive things about the accused.

While he must be given a second chance to “live like any of us” at some point, DPP Kumaresan said that a predominant consideration for sentencing should be the life of Ethan that was taken.

“The boy will never get to have these testimonials in his favour. We need to remember that a 13-year-old boy’s life was needlessly lost,” said DPP Kumaresan.

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Sunil Sudheesan from Quahe Woo and Palmer LLC, who represented the teenager, sought a lighter sentence of five years’ imprisonment, citing his client’s major depressive disorder as the main factor that caused him to commit the offence.

The teen was previously charged with murder, before the charge was reduced to culpable homicide not amounting to murder in February this year.

This was due to an assessment by doctors from the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) who found that the teen was suffering from clinical depression at the time of the incident, the attorney general’s Chambers (AGC) previously said.

The teenager has been in remand since the incident and appeared in past court hearings via video-link.

In a ministerial statement addressing the incident in parliament on July 27, 2021, Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing gave a chronological account of the incident.

At around 11.35am on the day, the teenager had stood outside the toilet while holding the axe and informed two groups of students to call the police, after which the “Run-Hide-Tell” lockdown drill was put in place.

Preliminary investigations during the week after the incident revealed that the victim and the teenager did not appear to know each other, said Chan at the time.

Chan said that a psychological support post had been set up on the day after the incident to provide support to staff and students who needed immediate help.

He added that the Ministry of Education (MOE) would make an effort to strengthen its mental health support network in schools and aimed to deploy over 1,000 teacher-counsellors in the next few years.

A year after the incident, MOE announced in a statement on July 16, 2022, that River Valley High now had additional counsellors and conducts well-being awareness talks for its students.

The ministry also said that a student development hub had been set up to provide one-stop access to wellness services alongside an activity centre that provides spaces for student-led activities.

These measures have had a positive impact on River Valley High students and the ministry would continue to provide all necessary support to the school, said MOE.

Justice Hoo Sheau Peng will continue to hear arguments on the sentence as court proceedings continue on Friday.

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.