Vincent was cremated at the Mandai Crematorium. -- ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
FROM the window of her six floor flat on Monday morning, Madam Nur Julia cried out for her dead son as the hearse moved out of their Serangoon North estate.
According to Chinese tradition, the 51-year-old mother is not allowed to send off the body of her 17-year-old son Vincent Tan to the crematorium.
The task was left to the Vincent's younger sister, Vivian Tan 16.
Clutching her brother's picture and an urn with fresh joss stick offerings, the usually composed Secondary 4 student - who was sitting in the front passenger seat of the hearse - wept as they made their way to Mandai Crematorium at about 9am.
Tears also flowed as about 30 relatives and friends watched the first-year polytechnic student's coffin being wheeled into the furnace.
His mother joined the group later to collect Vincent's ashes.
His remains will be kept at a temple in Geylang.
Vincent died last Thursday, four days after he was knocked unconscious by an opponent in a Taekwondo competition.
His younger opponent, 15, had kicked him in the neck, rupturing a key blood vessel to Vincent's brain.
The distraught opponent visited Vincent's wake on Sunday evening to offer his apologies.
