Girl 'was not into extreme sport'

The Spectra Secondary School student believed to have fallen to her death while attempting a parkour manoeuvre was, according to her family, not into the extreme sport.

Secondary 2 student Shina Adriana Hendricks was said to have jumped from the corridor on the fourth floor of the school building to the third floor on Tuesday morning when she lost her balance and fell to the ground floor. She later died of her injuries.

Yesterday afternoon, the 14-year- old was laid to rest at Choa Chu Kang Muslim Cemetery. Among the more than 80 mourners were her parents and two sisters, aged 22 and 25, as well as school staff.

The body arrived at the cemetery from the family's home in Petir Road at about 3.30pm.

Family members held hands as Muslim and Catholic prayers were recited for Shina, whose father is Eurasian and mother Malay. Her father, Mr James Hendricks, 52, declined to speak about the incident.

Shina's aunt, Ms Sandra Ross, said the family is still unsure why the girl had jumped, adding that she was not into physical activities such as parkour.

In parkour, practitioners go from one point to another in the fastest possible way using moves such as climbing walls and jumping over obstacles.

"She was not into parkour," said Ms Ross, 46, a crew manager in the marine industry. "We didn't see her doing any of these stunts when she was around us. She was not a physical person. She didn't even rollerblade."

Ms Ross claimed that her niece was being bullied by a male classmate, who had been picking on her for over a year. She added that Shina's best friend said the boy had issued her a dare, but did not reveal what the dare was.

"(Shina) complained to her sisters that this boy would always abuse her with vulgarities and called her names.Whether this boy dared her to jump, I cannot confirm."

Spectra Secondary's principal Krishnan Aravinthan had earlier told The Straits Times that the school is helping Shina's family.

Spectra, which is in Woodlands, is a specialised school for Normal (Technical) students.

Police received a call at 9.30am on Tuesday and arrived at the school to find the girl lying motionless on the ground.

She was taken to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital and later KK Women's and Children's Hospital, where she died.

The teenager, who was in the National Civil Defence Cadet Corps, had hoped to join the police.

"She was a bubbly person. She always had a smile on her face," said Ms Ross. "We want to remember her as that bubbly person."

calyang@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on October 23, 2015.
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