A high school senior accused of killing a junior classmate was charged this morning with murder.
The unidentified 16-year-old Sec 4 student was charged in Monday’s horrifying campus slaying of a 13-year-old Sec 1 boy at River Valley High School. The court granted a prosecution motion to remand the accused, who appeared in court via video, for psychiatric assessment.
The “tragic incident,” as described by Education Minister Chan Chun Sing yesterday, happened at about 11am. The victim was found lying motionless with multiple wounds in the school’s fourth floor toilet, and terrified students reported seeing one of their own washing blood from an axe.
He is being represented by Peter Keith Fernando of the Leo Fernando Advocates & Solicitors law firm and will return to court on Aug 10. Calls to his lawyer went unanswered Tuesday morning.
The police said the 16-year-old suspect was admitted to the Institute of Mental Health when he was a Sec 2 student after a suicide attempt.
The axe believed used in the attack was seized. Police said their initial investigation found that the two boys were unacquainted.
“The Police will conduct a thorough investigation and the full facts will be established in court. Pending the court proceedings, the Police would like to urge members of the public to refrain from speculating on the case out of respect for the family of the deceased,” the police said in a statement last night.
Images of purported messages from students circulating online since yesterday describe a male student holding an axe and “washing away blood” at a water cooler. Another wrote that “a guy holding a [very] big axe outside our classroom.”
If found guilty, the accused could be sentenced to life imprisonment.
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