Teen sentenced to 16 years' jail for killing River Valley High schoolmate with axe

Warning: This article contains references to suicide and other details which readers may find upsetting.

SINGAPORE: An 18-year-old boy was on Friday (Dec 1) sentenced to 16 years in jail after pleading 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 jail sentence handed down by Justice Hoo Sheau Peng is backdated to the day of his arrest.

She said that while the offender suffered from depression for about six months leading up to the attack, he retained control over his actions and knew that what he intended to do was legally and morally wrong.

The judge also noted that the offender's parents wrote Ethan's family a letter of apology shortly after their son was killed.

Ethan’s parents replied with "a display of remarkable strength and fortitude, that they have forgiven the accused", said Justice Hoo.

The prosecution, which described the case as "truly unprecedented", had sought 12 to 16 years' jail for the offender. The defence had asked for five years' imprisonment.

Defence lawyer Mr Sunil Sudheesan said he would file an appeal against the sentence, describing the 16-year jail term as "crushing" for the young offender.

The offender appeared in court wearing a white T-shirt with his head shaven. He listened quietly to court proceedings, only addressing the court to confirm his plea of guilt and admit to the facts.

His father, mother, brother and other family members were present, and spoke to him after he was sentenced, holding his hands through a gap in the divider.

The public gallery was full, with more than 40 people queueing to enter the courtroom before proceedings started.

Ethan’s parents were not in court, but their lawyer Mervyn Cheong was present to observe court proceedings.

In a statement issued through Mr Cheong, the victim's parents said: "We are heartbroken. We believe many who (know) 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."

PLAN TO END HIS LIFE

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.

Details of the offender’s struggle with depression and suicidal thoughts emerged in court on Friday.

For instance, he watched videos from time to time showing people dying.

In January 2021, he started exploring ways of ending his life.

He formed a plan to attack people at his school as he believed this would result in his own death as the police intervened. He wrote two poems and conducted multiple internet searches related to the plan.

In March and April 2021, he bought a knife and two axes, including the one eventually used in the killing.

THE FATAL ATTACK

The offender initially decided to carry out his plan in school on Jul 14, 2021, but did not go through with it.

On Jul 19, 2021, the offender brought the weapons to school concealed in a badminton bag and hid them in a male toilet.

He used caution tape to cordon off the corridor leading to the toilet, so that students would not enter it.

After attending classes until about 11.15am, he went to the toilet and waited for the students inside to leave. He then closed the toilet door and windows to prevent screams from being heard.

When Ethan went in at around 11.30am, the offender briefly left the toilet to reattach the caution tape before attacking Ethan from behind.

AFTER THE ATTACK

The offender said he felt "catharsis and regret" after the killing. 

At about 11.35am, he left the toilet with the axe. He asked a few groups of students to call the police, but they ran away from him.

A few minutes later, he was approached by a female teacher and dropped the axe as he was told. She kicked the weapon away from him.

The offender told the teacher that he had killed someone and asked her to call the police. She sought assistance after seeing the victim's body.

A male teacher arrived at the scene, moved the axe further away from the offender, and stood between him and the axe.

The boy was escorted to the school's general office and arrested when the police and Singapore Civil Defence Force arrived at about 11.50am.

HIS PSYCHIATRIC CONDITION

IMH psychologist Dr Kenji Gwee assessed that the offender met the criteria for major depressive disorder at the time of the offence.

His depression, watching videos of people dying and "misguided curiosity to address existential angst" were factors that contributed to the killing.

IMH psychiatrist Dr Cai Yiming assessed that the boy's mental state amounted to an abnormality of mind that would have substantially impaired his criminal responsibility.

Dr Cai also noted that the offender was genetically predisposed to develop depression leading to a sense of hopelessness.

In subsequent reports, the doctors assessed that if the offender did not have major depression at the time of the killing, he would not have decided to attack the victim with an axe.

The offender qualified for the defence of diminished responsibility based on the psychiatric evidence.

NOT ANY ORDINARY ASSAULT: PROSECUTION

The killing and the public disquiet it has caused are "without precedent in Singapore’s history", Deputy Public Prosecutors Kumaresan Gohulabalan and Sean Teh told the court.

"This was not any ordinary assault, but one conducted on a student on the grounds of an educational institution, culminating in the death of the deceased," they said.

The prosecutors asked the court to give limited weight to the offender’s mental disorder when assessing his culpability.

This was because psychiatric assessments showed he retained control over his actions, including factors that contributed to the killing, and understood their consequences.

The prosecutors also said that River Valley High School was aware of the offender’s emotional, behavioural and learning problems. The school had taken "all appropriate actions" and advised his parents to seek external professional help, which they did.

But the offender would not share what bothered him and refused help, the prosecutors said.

They argued that a sentence of 12 to 16 years in jail would be appropriate to reflect the harm inflicted by the offender, and the outrage felt by the community.

EXCEPTIONAL FAMILY SUPPORT, LOW RISK OF REOFFENDING: DEFENCE

The defence, led by Mr Sunil with Ms Diana Ngiam and Ms Joyce Khoo of Quahe Woo & Palmer, asked the court to prioritise the offender's rehabilitation.

They argued for a shorter sentence as his mental responsibility for the killing was substantially impaired by his depression, and also pointed to his young age and emotional immaturity then.

They said the offender has a significant family history of mental illness, and described efforts by him and his family to gain more insight into his condition since his arrest.

The youth has been on medication and attended therapy sessions, and his depression was assessed to be in remission.

His parents have embarked on graduate education related to youth work to better support their son, and made or planned to make career switches to work in areas related to youth mental health.

The defence also pointed to a failure by him and the people around him to appreciate "the wealth of danger signs" around his mental health before the attack.

The offender was assessed by IMH to have an adjustment disorder in February 2019, with the doctor finding that school counselling sessions would be enough to manage his condition.

"As a result, our client did not receive any external medical help apart from a few school counselling sessions," said the defence.

The offender now has exceptional family support and "will not be walking alone after his release", Mr Sunil told the court.

Mr Sunil also disagreed with the prosecution on the level of public outrage, saying it was "overstated". Instead, there is support, sympathy and empathy for the offender, he said.

JUDGE'S DECISION

In her judgment, Justice Hoo said that depression cannot be a licence to kill or harm others, no matter how severe it is. Where an offender still has the ability to understand and reason, depression can only lessen his culpability to a certain extent.

In this case, even though the offender suffered from depression for about six months before the killing, he displayed a level of “sheer sophistication and planning” that made it clear he had the ability to think logically and coherently, she said.

“Indeed, far from being delusional, incoherent, or irrational, the accused had a factual basis for proceeding as he did,” she said, referring to the “considerable” research he did on the internet before the killing.

“To that end, he exhibited a chilling degree of premeditation and cold logic in planning and preparing for the killing.”

She noted that the offender struggled with what he intended to do. “He knew there was something wrong with himself. He had the capacity to talk himself out of doing what he intended to do.

“Even after struggling with ambivalence for months, and even after his aborted attempt to put his plan into action on Jul 14, 2021, rather than pulling back or resiling from his plan then, he resolved to complete it.”

She also said that his depression was only one of three major factors that contributed to his killing, the others being his refusal to get external help and his viewing of the online videos.

She also said there was a "disturbing" aspect of the offender's psyche seen in his poems. 

Justice Hoo added that the effect of the offender's depression on him was already reflected in the prosecution's charging position – for culpable homicide not amounting to murder, rather than murder.

She said there were some "promising signs" for the youth in his outstanding O-Level results, his hopes to study the social sciences and help others with mental illness, his newfound faith, and his family rallying around him.

"Whether this story might be about redemption is up to the accused. After his release from prisons, he has a long road ahead of him," said the judge.

"With his insight into his mental health issues, and with his intelligence and abilities, he has what he needs to make his story one of redemption.

"With the help and support of his family and friends, he should see to it that it happens."

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, such as by having more counsellors.