Lecturer says he turned around to see a knife being thrust at his face
By
Sujin Thomas
Prof Chan, a lecturer at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, recounted how he was attacked by his student, who later fell four storeys to his death on campus grounds. -- ST PHOTO: LAU FOOK KONG
NANYANG Technological University professor Chan Kap Luk barely glanced at the undergraduate who had come into his room.
About the case
Nanyang Technological University undergraduate David Hartanto Widjaja, 21, was found dead after falling from a bridge on campus on March 2.
The Indonesian national was in his final year at NTU's School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
He was busy at his computer preparing slides for a presentation at noon that day.
The student, Mr David Hartanto Widjaja, said he wanted to discuss his final year project, due for submission at the end of March. He wanted to give the lecturer a thumbdrive containing a computer program he had worked on.
Associate Professor Chan, 45, turned around for a moment to look at the thumbdrive. He explained to Mr Widjaja that the program could not run on his office computer. As he had a deadline to beat, Prof Chan suggested that Mr Widjaja give him an oral overview instead.
The lecturer's version of what then happened was heard for the first time on Thursday by a courtroom packed with Indonesian media, embassy representatives and relatives, on the second day of the coroner's inquiry into Mr Widjaja's death.
It was also the first time that Mr Widjaja's family was seeing Prof Chan, since the 21-year-old Indonesian student died at the Nanyang Technological University on March 2.
Prof Chan, a lecturer at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, recounted how he was attacked by his student, who later fell four storeys to his death on campus grounds.
He told the court that he continued working at his computer, with his back to Mr Widjaja, while questioning the student. His replies sounded shaky and nervous, Prof Chan said.
Suddenly he felt something hitting his back, 'as if someone was punching me'. He told the court: 'I was asking myself: 'What's this? He's hitting me? Why?''
