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River Valley High death: Parents to see accused 'very soon' – defence lawyer

Students seen leaving the River Valley High School campus on 19 July. (PHOTO: Nicholas Yong / Yahoo News Singapore)
Students seen leaving the River Valley High School campus on 19 July. (PHOTO: Nicholas Yong / Yahoo News Singapore)

SINGAPORE — The 16-year-old River Valley High School student accused of murdering a 13-year-old schoolmate will be further remanded for seven days from Tuesday (24 August), with his lawyer saying that his parents will see him "very soon".

The Secondary 4 student appeared in the State Courts via videolink for a re-mention of his case, with Deputy Public Prosecutor Kumaresan Gohulabalan telling the court that his psychiatric assessment had been completed.

The prosecutor said that the police have requested to remand the teen for seven days at the Police Cantonment Complex for investigations. The police would make arrangements for the family to speak to the accused at "the appropriate juncture", he added.

Sunil Sudheesan, the accused's lawyer, said he had no objections to the application. "I just want to tell the accused person that I will be seeing him soon and his parents will be seeing him very soon," Sunil added.

District Judge Terence Tay approved the prosecution's application to remand the accused, with permission for the police to take him out for investigations.

On 13 August, the parents were allowed to speak to the accused via a video call. Yahoo News Singapore reached out to Sudheesan regarding their latest request and asked if the accused would be seeing his parents in person and the lawyer declined to answer.

The teenager will return to court on 31 August for the next hearing of his case. His name cannot be revealed due to a court-imposed gag order.

He is accused of causing the death of the Secondary 1 victim at a toilet on Level 4 of Block D of River Valley High School at 6 Boon Lay Avenue, between 11.16am and 11.44am on 19 July.

The penalty for murder is death. Under the Criminal Procedure Code, offenders below 18 will be sentenced to life imprisonment if found guilty.

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