Students saw Widjaja jump

May 25, 2009

NTU STUDENT WHO FELL TO HIS DEATH

Students saw Widjaja jump

By Sujin Thomas
		Mr Lin-Zhenxing (left), also a final year student of the School of Electrical and Electronic Enginneering, was waiting for the lift on the 4th floor of the Research Techno Plaza when he saw Widjaja. -- ST PHOTO: WONG WAI CHOW

A FELLOW student witnessed a bloodied Nanyang Technological University (NTU) David Hartanto Widjaja jump off the roof of a link-bridge and captured the final moments on his mobile phone, a coroner's court heard on Monday.

Mr Lin-Zhenxing, also a final year student of the School of Electrical and Electronic Enginneering, was waiting for the lift on the 4th floor of the Research Techno Plaza, with a project mate at about 10.30 am on March 2 when he saw Widjaja, 21, on top of the glass roof of a bridge linking the school and the techno building.

In his eight-second video footage which was tendered in court, the 'shaky and slightly grainy' footage showed a person who 'appears' to be the Indonesian student sitting on the bridge roof. His right arm and legs were oozing blood, and his shorts and front of his Tee-shirt were blood-soaked.

The video clip showed him looking down, then towards his right. Mr Lin stopped recording after eight seconds as he needed the mobile phone to call the campus security guard. When he was about to end the call, he saw Widjaja jump four floors down.

The filmlet was extracted from Mr Lin's cellphone memory card and given to police after the shocking death fall, which occurred shortly after Widjaja allegedly attacked his final year project supervisor Professor Chan Kap Luk, 45, during what was to have been a discussion on the student's work.

Mr Lin also demonstrated how Widjaja pushed himself off the bridge, using a swivel chair in the coroner's court on Monday morning.

Four other students and laboratory staff also took the witness stand on Monday, giving their accounts of how Widjaja clambered onto the roof of the bridge and pushing himself off.

During a break at Monday's inquiry into the student's death, Widjaja's father and brother told The Straits Times that they do not believe that the man in the video clip was Widjaja.

Asked why, they said the footage was not clear and the body shape of the man did not look like Widjaja's. Mr Hartono, Widjaja, 56, said he intends to engage a forensic specialist to look at the video footage.

The inquiry continues.

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Widjaja: Wails, blood, death fall

May 23, 2009

DAY 3 OF THE INQUIRY

Wails, blood, death fall

Witnesses describe events at NTU campus

By Sujin Thomas & Kimberly Spykerman

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TRAINEE engineer Pattarin Kusopalin was in the corridor when she heard 'thunderous wails' for help. The Thai national froze, wondering where the 'terrifying noise' was coming from.

Iranian student saw Widjaja on roof An Iranian PhD student, Ms Lobna Kamyab, next saw Mr Widjaja while she was on her way to a laboratory along a common corridor one floor below. He was ahead of her, climbing onto a parapet ledge. His clothes were soaked and he was dripping blood from an 'awful wound' on his right wrist, she told the court. The autopsy showed that it was a deep cut 7.5cm long. ... more

A door opened at the other end of the corridor in the Nanyang Technological University's School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and she saw a former teacher, Associate Professor Cheah Chien Chern, striding out.

He too had heard the cries for help.

Ms Kusopalin recalled that the door to another office then opened and she saw Associate Professor Chan Kap Luk, 45, backing out, his shirt heavily soaked with blood. Prof Chan staggered toward Prof Cheah, who saw that he was gripping a broken knife blade in his right hand. Frightened by the blood, Ms Kusopalin turned and ran.

Ms Kusopalin was one of seven witnesses who took the stand on Friday on the third day of the coroner's inquiry into the death of Indonesian undergraduate David Hartanto Widjaja, 21.

Their separate accounts pieced together the events of March 2, when Mr Widjaja allegedly attacked Prof Chan before falling to his death minutes later from four storeys.

Prof Chan told the courtroom that he asked Prof Cheah to call the police and an ambulance. When Mr Widjaja stepped out of his office moments later, he pointed at the young man and shouted: 'Can someone get the student?'

Mr Widjaja pointed at the injured professor and hurled some words after him. Prof Chan told the half-filled courtroom: 'I cannot recall his exact words but he said something that sounded like he was blaming me - that I was the one who started this.'

The hearing continues on Monday.

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Cornoner's inquiry into NTU student's death fall: Body had 36 wounds

May 21, 2009

Cornoner's inquiry into NTU student's death fall

Body had 36 wounds

Pathologist asked if cuts could have been inflicted during a struggle

By Sujin Thomas & Kimberly Spykerman
		The dead student's (from left) older brother William Widjaja, mother Huang Lixian and father Hartanto Widjaja were at the hearing yesterday, seeking answers to his death. -- ST PHOTOS: WONG KWAI CHOW

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WHEN he was found below a bridge at the Nanyang Technological University, undergraduate David Hartanto Widjaja had more than 36 wounds on his body.

About the case Nanyang Technological University undergraduate David Hartanto Widjaja, 21, was found dead after falling from a bridge on campus on March 2. Mr Widjaja, an Indonesian national, was in his final year at NTU's School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. ... more Close friend also on the stand Also on the stand on Wednesday was a close friend of Mr Widjaja, fellow Indonesian undergraduate Hardian Setiawan Winata. The final-year student described his friend as a hard worker in his first year at university. However, he added that subsequently, Mr Widjaja appeared distracted and spent a lot of time in his room playing computer games, often skipping tutorials as a result. ... more

Many of these were cuts on his arms and hands, as well as abrasions, a packed Coroner's Court was told on Wednesday at the start of a five-day inquest into circumstances surrounding the Indonesian undergrad's death on March 2.

The 21-year-old final-year student at the university's School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering fell four storeys to his death that morning. He allegedly had a quarrel earlier with his final-year project (FYP) supervisor, Associate Professor Chan Kap Luk, during which the latter was stabbed.

On Wednesday, pathologist Dr Marian Wang, who carried out an autopsy on Mr Widjaja, said the undergraduate suffered several other injuries, including a fractured breast bone.

These, she said, were consistent with someone who had fallen from a height.

Based on what she found, Dr Wang, the registrar of the Centre for Forensic Medicine of the Health Sciences Authority, concluded that Mr Widjaja had died from multiple injuries, she told the court yesterday.

Asked about the cuts on the student's arms and hands, Dr Wang said they could have been inflicted while he was involved in a struggle with another party to gain control of a knife. Some wounds may have also been self-inflicted, she added.

During cross-examination, lawyer Shashi Nathan, who represents the Widjaja family - they were in court on Wednesday, along with Indonesian media and embassy representatives - asked Dr Wang whether some injuries were defensive in nature.

She denied this initially, saying that injuries sustained in self-defence are 'usually accompanied by stab wounds or deep cuts. These are absent in this case'.

Under persistent questioning, however, she said she could not rule out such a possibility.

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Coroner's inquiry into NTU student's death fall: Prof recounts knife attack

May 21, 2009
Coroner's inquiry into NTU student's death fall
Prof recounts knife attack
By Sujin Thomas & Kimberly Spykerman

The professor suffered a cut on the tendon of his right index finger and needed five stitches for the wound on his back. -- ST PHOTO: LAU FOOK KONG

NANYANG Technological University (NTU) student David Hartanto Widjaja turned up unexpectedly at his professor's office on March 2 morning, after avoiding him for a week to discuss his final year project.

About the case
# Nanyang Technological University undergraduate David Hartanto Widjaja, 21, was found dead after falling from a bridge on campus on March 2.

# Mr Widjaja, an Indonesian national, was in his final year at NTU's School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
... more
He was supposed to see Associate Professor Chan Kap Luk on Feb 26 morning together with several other final year students but he didn't show up. Prof Chan then moved the meeting to the next morning but this had to be rescheduled to 2pm that day as the professor was engaged with two other students that morning. Widjaja did not come in the afternoon.

Three days later, he walked into Prof Chan's office at 10.25am. What followed was an exchange which ended in Prof Chan, 45, being stabbed and the 21-year-old electrical and electronic engineering undergraduate falling four storeys to his death from a bridge.

Prof Chan who was Widjaja's project supervisor, recounted the moments leading to attack on that fateful morning in his conditional statement when he took the stand on Thursday on Day Two of a coroner's inquiry into the Indonesian student's death fall.

He told a packed courtroom that Widjaja came to his office on March 2 morning, saying he wanted to discuss his final year project. Widjaja then produced a thumb drive, claiming his work was stored in it. Prof Chan had problem running the programme on his computer, which showed nothing. To which, Mr Widjaja insisted that he had indeed done the project.

During the exchange, Prof Chan noticed that Widjaja's voice was turning shaky. Moments later, when his back was turned against Widjaja, he felt several hits on his back. He spun around and saw Widjaja wielding an 18-cm knife coming for him. Prof Chan said he tried to block with his arm and fell to the floor.

He said Widjaja attacked him again but he managed to grab the knife, breaking the blade from the handle. A struggle followed, during which Widjaja fell back and hit a metal filing cabinet in the room.

The professor then tried to run out of the office but was blocked by Widjaja. He managed to push Widjaja aside and ran towards the students' graduation office a few metres away. While being tended to by staff, Prof Chan said it was then that he realised that he had been stabbed in the back by Widjaja.

The professor suffered a cut on the tendon of his right index finger and needed five stitches for the wound on his back. He was given 20 days' medical leave.

Prof Chan said that as he was running away from Widjaja, he glanced back briefly and heard the Indonesian student shouting from the door way that he blamed the professor for the whole incident.

He said he did not know what happened to Widjaja as he was rushed to hospital, and only found out he had died from the news.

The inquiry continues.

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