The assailant, who cannot be named for legal reasons as he committed the crime when he was 16 years old, had initially faced a murder charge. - ST FILE
SINGAPORE: The Court of Appeal on Wednesday (Oct 23) upheld the sentence of 16 years’ jail that was handed down to a teenager who killed his schoolmate at River Valley High School with an axe in 2021.
Singapore’s highest court dismissed the teen’s appeal for a jail term of between eight and 10 years.
Delivering the court’s decision, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon said the teen “exhibited a chilling degree of premeditation and a cold and calculated approach” in planning and preparing for the killing.
The assailant cannot be named for legal reasons as he committed the crime when he was 16 years old.
Suffering from depression, he had hatched a plan to slash people in the school, so the police would shoot him to death.
He bought several weapons, including a combat axe, between March and April in 2021.
On July 19 that year, he left his classroom and waited in the toilet, armed with the axe. He repeatedly slashed 13-year-old Ethan Hun, who had entered the toilet.
The two schoolboys did not know each other.
Chief Justice Menon noted that from as early as five months before the attack, the teen had researched on the internet for a suitable weapon and picked a machete or axe because it would be suitable for an inexperienced user.
The teen then arranged to have the weapons sharpened professionally, and also examined the floor plan of the school.
A month before the killing, he sought out online videos to learn the most efficient way of killing his prospective victim.
Referring to two poems that the teen wrote about mass killings, Chief Justice Menon said: “It does seem to us that (the teen) appeared to be enthralled by the idea of a school killing and the notoriety it could bring him.”
“Aside from the degree of premeditation that was involved, this case also featured a high degree of brutality and callousness, and the targeting of a wholly innocent, defenceless young victim who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time,” said the Chief Justice.
The teen, who is now 19 years old, did not show any emotion on hearing the verdict.
He appeared relaxed in the dock as he chatted with his family members after the court session ended.
The teen had initially faced a murder charge.
It was later reduced to a charge of culpable homicide after he was found to be suffering from major depressive disorder at the time of the killing.
He had pleaded guilty to the reduced charge on Dec 1, 2023, and was sentenced to 16 years’ jail by the High Court.
At his appeal on July 1, his lawyer argued that the High Court judge had failed to give sufficient weight to the teen’s mental disorder in meting out the “manifestly excessive” sentence.
Sunil Sudheesan argued that his client had been in the depths of depression when he formed the irrational plan, and so his culpability needed to be calibrated in that context.
Sudheesan said his client’s irrational plan was also informed by snuff videos – graphic videos showing actual scenes of human death – that the teen had watched.
Following the incident, the teen fully recovered from his depression, which has been in remission since September 2022, the lawyer added.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Andre Chong had argued there was significant responsibility on the teen’s part, having decided to watch snuff videos when his rationality was not affected.
The DPP argued that had the teen not consumed these videos, he would not have had suicidal thoughts.
He added that the teen knew he was depressed, had refused to seek help, and should have known to have been on guard against such material.
On Oct 23, the Court of Appeal, which also comprised Justice Belinda Ang and Justice Woo Bih Li, found that the teen’s depression could attenuate his culpability only to a limited extent.
Chief Justice Menon said that while the disorder undoubtedly contributed to the killing, there were other contributory factors.
The teen’s consumption of snuff videos desensitised him, and he did not seek help for the despair he felt, the Chief Justice noted.
Chief Justice Menon said the teen retained a significant degree of rationality despite his disorder, and was “not acting on the basis of fantasy or fiction” in thinking that the police might shoot him if he had gone on a killing spree.
“His thought process was logical, and his plan was carefully and meticulously thought out,” said the Chief Justice.
Moreover, the psychiatric reports showed that the teen knew the acts he planned were legally and morally wrong, and wrestled with some ambivalence over his plan for a few months.
Chief Justice Menon said: “His depression did not undermine his ability to wilfully control physical acts to materialise this plan. In fact, he appreciated the physical damage required to increase the chances of death, and methodically prepared for the axe attack.” - The Straits Times/ANN
