His mother, wearing a lime green top and denim Bermudas, looked distraught while his father and brother seemed more composed. -- ST PHOTO: SUJIN THOMAS
THE distraught parents of NTU undergraduate who fell to his death after stabbing his professor in campus identified his body at the Singapore General Hospital mortuary on Tuesday morning.
The stabbing happened during a meeting between Prof Chan and Widjaja, apparently to discuss the undergraduate's final-year project, the first draft of which was due to for submission next Tuesday.
Less than an hour into the discussion, Widjaja whipped a 10-cm long knife and started stabbing Prof Chan, whose back was facing his computer. Moments later, Widjaja slit his won wrists with the knife and ran out of the office, dripping a trail of blood behind him.
They flew in from Jakarta on Monday evening after the Nanyang Technological University authorities notified them of the tragedy, which stunned students returning to campus on the first day after a one-week break.
On Monday morning at about 10.30 am, David Hartanto Widjaja, 21, a final year Indonesian student of the NTU's School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, attacked his professor in his office before fleeing and leaping to his death shortly after.
Associate Professor Chan Kap Luk, 45, who is from the Division of Information Engineering, is recovering from injuries to his back and arms at the National University Hospital. His condition is said to stable although a sign outside his ward on Tuesday morning says "No visitors allowed."
Widjaja's parents and his elder brother, aged 24, arrived at the SGH mortuary at 8.40am in a grey van, accompanied by NTU counsellors and officials from the Indonesian Embassy here.
His mother, wearing a lime green top and denim Bermudas, looked distraught while his father and brother seemed more composed. They have identified the body but are still huddled in the mortuary office.
It is understood they are still deciding whether to bring Widjaja's body back to Jakarta or cremate him in Singapore. The trio are being housed in NTU quarters on campus and the university is providing them with 'all the necessary assistance,' said an NTU spokesman.
Soon after they arrived in Singapore on Monday night, the family met more than 100 Indonesian students at NTU campus.
Meanwhile, Prof Chan, a father of two young children, is recovering at the NUH, after undergoing an emergency operation on Monday evening to stitch up wounds to his back. A finger on his right hand was also placed in a splint. His wife said he was doing fine and is expected to be discharged in a few days.
