By Kimberly Spykerman

MONTHS before he fell to his death on campus, Nanyang Technological University student David Hartanto Widjaja was searching the Internet for ways to commit suicide and murder.

Text fragments gleaned from the undergraduate's laptop show he used search engine Google to look for 'a good way to commit suicide' and also the 10 most common suicide methods.

More interestingly, he also searched for murder methods and spent some time at a website titled How To Get Away With Murder.

In March, Mr Widjaja, 21, fell to his death after allegedly stabbing Associate Professor Chan Kap Luk in his office with a kitchen knife.

The coroner's inquiry into the engineering student's death yesterday turned up strong evidence that Mr Widjaja had been planning to kill himself - a possibility his family have repeatedly dismissed.

Senior Staff Sergeant Joe Ng Suan Teck, who conducted a forensic examination of Mr Widjaja's black Lenovo laptop's contents, told the court that the text fragments he had extracted included Internet searches and links to websites pertaining to both suicide and murder.

Although it was impossible to determine who exactly had visited the sites, Sgt Ng said the laptop belonged to the student and it was protected by a password.

His examination of the laptop also threw up what appears to be a suicide note.

The unsigned document, titled Last Words, was created on Jan 25 and left unamended.

In the note, which begins 'If this e-mail is sent, that means I am no longer in this world', the writer painted a picture of an unhappy family situation, saying he became 'hardened' and stopped crying after he turned 16. 'I just don't have any more tears for me to shed for other people.'

The writer said he 'found life much more difficult and complicated' after entering university.

The note was peppered with phrases such as 'I have had it with my miserable life', 'I just have no will to live' and 'I have tried to struggle, but it seems my mental (strength) isn't enough to continue'.

Mr Widjaja's thumbdrive and cellphone were also examined, but no information pertaining to suicide or murder was found on them. But a large number of text messages on his cellphone had been sent to Miss Chua Jia Yu, 18, who told the court during the first leg of the inquiry last month that she was his virtual wife on online game Destiny Online.

Mr Widjaja's elder brother William, 24, is expected to take the stand next week. Five of the nine additional witnesses requested by the Widjajas to give testimonies have declined to take the stand.

The hearing continues next Wednesday.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.