Now 18, he was sentenced to 16 years in jail after pleading guilty on Dec 1 to killing a fellow student with an axe.
He had planned to slash people in school so that the police would shoot him to death.
On July 14, 2021, he took the axe and a knife to school in a badminton racquet bag, which he hid under a sink in the toilet, but failed to follow through with his plan.
He tried again on July 19, 2021.
At about 11.15am, he left his classroom and waited in the toilet, armed with the axe, and repeatedly slashed a 13-year-old student who had entered the toilet.
The two did not know each other.
The assailant, who cannot be named under the Children and Young Persons Act, pleaded guilty to a charge of culpable homicide.
He was originally handed a murder charge, but it was reduced in February.
On Dec 1, a previously imposed gag order on the name of the victim, Ethan Hun, was lifted by the High Court at his parents’ request.
In sentencing remarks, Justice Hoo Sheau Peng noted that Ethan’s parents had written that they have forgiven the accused, in reply to a letter of apology sent by the assailant’s parents shortly after the tragedy.
This was a display of remarkable strength and fortitude, said the judge.
She said she hoped that Ethan’s parents and other loved ones will find a measure of healing and closure from this tragedy.
As for the sentence, Justice Hoo said a clear message must be sent to others who might find themselves in the same state of mind as the assailant to deter them from entertaining the thought of engaging in similar conduct.
“This was a gratuitously violent killing, terrifying and incomprehensible in its randomness,” she said.
Denne historien er fra December 02, 2023-utgaven av The Straits Times.
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Denne historien er fra December 02, 2023-utgaven av The Straits Times.
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