By Elena Chong & Carolyn Quek

ONE came from a broken family and the other from a closely-knit one, but the 16-year-olds were fast friends and had been so since their days in Eunos Primary School.

Their bond was so strong that when one broached the matter of a suicide pact, the other was right next to him - on a tiny window ledge nine floors off the ground. They were to leap from that ledge, hand in hand.

With this finding, a state coroner recorded a verdict of suicide on the deaths in August last year of Ku Witaya and Sia Chan Hong.

Five other teens were in the room, awaiting their turn to jump to their deaths as well. But they changed their minds when they saw Witaya and Chan Hong - one dead and the other dying - at the foot of Block 677 Jalan Damai, off Bedok Reservoir Road.

State Coroner Victor Yeo said that Witaya, their undisputed leader, had a strong influence over the group and had persuaded them to join in the death pact.

The group had shared a common spiritual practice, led by Witaya, a self-styled medium, and were also united in their common goal of saving the world through their deaths.

Mr Yeo added that from the evidence of the surviving witnesses, it was clear that no one had been forced to carry out the act; neither was anyone goaded into being the first to jump.

He said the boys' ties, their group identity, peer influence and perhaps a lack of maturity, very likely accounted for their participation in Witaya's beliefs and practices, which would have given them a sense of purpose and meaning in life.

He said he had found no evidence to suggest that the group had bought into the suicide plan as a result of the online games they had played.

He noted that although Witaya, Chan Hong and three others were avid players of World of Warcraft, a consultant psychiatrist who had examined the surviving teens had concluded that none was suffering from any psychiatric illness or was pathologically addicted to gaming.

The coroner said that while he believed the group to have held an unquestioning belief in their leader's teachings, he could not rule out the possibility that Witaya was deeply unhappy.

The court heard that the teen, the eldest in the family, was upset in particular about his parents' separation and impending divorce; he had wanted to drop out of school and was frequently absent or late.

In the middle of last year, around the time he heard rumours that he was a fake medium, he told his friends they had to die to become 'slayers' who would rid the world of demons.

He had first talked about slayers two years earlier, but this time around, he predicted, during one of his trances, that World War III was coming and said that they had to die to be resurrected as demon slayers.

At a barbecue held hours before the Aug 23 tragedy, Witaya got Chan Hong and six others to agree to jump from his block. As the entrance to the rooftop was locked, the eight gathered in his bedroom.

There, one of them backed out, but not before pleading with Witaya to ditch the plan. After he had left, the remaining seven discussed who would jump first, as the window ledge could not take more than two or three of them at a time.

Present in court throughout the inquest and yesterday were Chan Hong's uncle and grandmother.

As her eyes filled with tears, Madam Chua Kha Hoong, 66, said in Mandarin: 'He had no problems in school and at home. His father doted on him, he had money to spend and food to eat. He had no reason to kill himself.'

Then she added: 'He jumped because he was influenced by his friends.'

She said she had seen him a week before his death, when his uncle had asked him to help out in his mini-mart.

They had gone for a meal after that, during which another uncle invited him for roti prata at Jalan Kayu the week after.

She added that the teen was even reminding his mother just hours before his death about that prata meal.

His mother had also called to ask what time he would be home after the barbecue that night, and he had told her 'in a while', said Madam Chua.

elena@sph.com.sg

carolynq@sph.com.sg

This article was first published in The Straits Times.