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Death of Benjamin Lim: Difference between revisions
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==== '''CCTV Footage and the Alleged Incident''' ==== | ==== '''CCTV Footage and the Alleged Incident''' ==== | ||
The coroner reviewed the CCTV footage of the incident multiple times and concluded that Lim's hand had touched the girl’s back. However, the coroner emphasized that the contact was momentary and did not appear to involve grasping or groping. | On 25 January 2016, while Lim was coming home from school, Lim was said to have made a detour and went to another HDB block in the neighbourhood, before going home. | ||
According to the girl who made the police report, Lim had followed her into the lift and dropped his mobile phone, which he then bent down to pick up<ref>https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/events-leading-benjamin-lims-death</ref>. | |||
The girl claimed that she felt a ‘soft tap’ on her left buttock and when she glanced down, she saw Lim's hand moving away from her. | |||
The coroner reviewed the CCTV footage of the incident multiple times and concluded that Lim's hand had touched the girl’s back. | |||
However, the coroner emphasized that the contact was momentary and did not appear to involve grasping or groping. | |||
Using CCTV footage, police officers saw that the culprit was wearing the PE attire of North View Secondary School. | |||
{| class="wikitable" | |||
|+Events on 26 January 2016 | |||
!Time | |||
!Event | |||
|- | |||
|9.45am | |||
|Five police officers visit North View Secondary School to establish the identity of the subject. Dressed in civilian attire, they arrive in unmarked cars. | |||
|- | |||
| | |||
|The school’s staff suspect that Lim is the person seen in the CCTV footage, as he was the only student in the school known to wear red-framed spectacles. | |||
|- | |||
|10am | |||
|The school’s discipline mistress, who had previously taught Lim, approaches him in the canteen. He is seated alone. She speaks to him and invites him to see the school’s principal, Mr Chen Fook Pang. | |||
It is said that there are no students near Lim and the discipline mistress ensures that no one overhears their conversation. | |||
|- | |||
| | |||
|At the principal’s office, Mr Chen reassures Lim and speaks to him to obtain basic facts. One police officer then interviews Lim in the presence of the school’s staff and obtains an initial account of what had happened in the lift. Lim explains that he may have accidentally touched a girl in a lift as he was picking up his phone, which he had dropped. | |||
|- | |||
| | |||
|Lim calls his mother to inform her of what was happening. He displays visible signs of stress as his mother speaks to him very loudly. | |||
|- | |||
| | |||
|A decision is made to bring Lim to the Ang Mo Kio Police Division to further assist in investigations. He is not handcuffed or restrained throughout the journey. | |||
|- | |||
| | |||
|Lim is interviewed by a senior investigation officer at the officer’s open plan workstation. The interview and statement recording process is visible to anyone who walks past the area. | |||
|- | |||
| | |||
|According to the police, Lim admits that he had followed the victim into a lift, where he had deliberately dropped his mobile phone and taken the opportunity to touch her thigh while standing up. | |||
|- | |||
| | |||
|Lim is placed under arrest and brought to a temporary holding area, where he waits for his bail to be processed. | |||
|- | |||
|2.50pm | |||
|Lim is released to his mother’s custody. On the way home, she asks Lim to tell her if he had molested the victim. Lim says that he did not and that he did not know what had happened. Mdm Teng tells him that he should not have admitted to molesting the girl if he had not done so. Lim says that if people said that he did it, then he did it. | |||
|- | |||
|3.30pm | |||
|Mdm Teng and her son reach their house at 3.30pm. After a shower and a meal, Lim begins playing games at the dining table. His sister is in the living room, while Mdm Teng is performing chores. | |||
|- | |||
|4.13pm | |||
|Mdm Teng receives a call from the school counsellor. There are two differing accounts as to what transpired during this phone call. According to the counsellor, the school suggested that it would be good for Lim to not attend a school camp and be with his family instead. An email sent by the counsellor to Mr Chen, the school’s principal, tallies with this account. However, according to Mdm Teng, the counsellor told her that the school had decided not to let Lim attend the camp, preferring him to stay home to do e-learning instead. Mdm Teng conveyed this account to reporters. | |||
|- | |||
| | |||
|After the call, Mdm Teng tells Lim that the school did not allow him to go to the camp. Lim acknowledges this and continues to play games. | |||
Mdm Teng begins washing the common toilet, which is opposite Lim’s room. Five minutes later, she sees that the door to her son’s room is closed. She tries to open the door but finds it locked. Her daughter joins her and they knock on the door repeatedly, asking Lim to open the door, but receive no response. Mdm Teng then uses a spare key to open the door. | |||
|- | |||
| | |||
|They find a window open and that a desk fan normally found on a table in front of the window had been moved to the floor. Lim’s phone is on his bed but he is nowhere to be seen. Suspecting that he had jumped from the window, Mdm Teng rushes downstairs with her daughter. When they arrive downstairs, they find Lim lying on the ground in front of their block. Police officers are at the scene. | |||
|- | |||
|4.36pm | |||
|Lim is pronounced dead. | |||
|} | |||
==== '''Emotional Impact on Lim''' ==== | ==== '''Emotional Impact on Lim''' ==== | ||