SINGAPORE - A timeline of events was laid out during a coroner's inquiry on Tuesday (May 17) into the death of 14-year-old Benjamin Lim.
9.45-9.50am
Five plainclothes officers go to North View Secondary School in two unmarked cars. The officers are brought to see principal Chen Fook Pang. Staff suspect Benjamin was the one in police camera footage because of his red spectacles.
About 10am
Discipline mistress Chan Su Qin Steff gets Benjamin from the school canteen, where he was sitting alone with a bun and drink.
The principal reassures Benjamin in his office. Inspector Poh Wee Teck interviews him in the presence of school staff.
About 10.30am
Police decide to bring Benjamin back to Ang Mo Kio Police Division. He calls his mother on his phone.
At the station, senior investigation officer Mohammad Fareed interviews Benjamin in an open plan office. The boy allegedly admits that he had followed an 11-year-old girl into a lift the day before, dropped his phone on purpose and touched her left back thigh while standing up.
Benjamin is arrested and put in a temporary holding area, away from other adults, as he waits for bail to be processed.
About 2.50pm
Benjamin is released into his mother's custody. On the way home, she asks if he had committed the act. He said no, and that he did not know what happened.
Around 3.30pm
The family reaches home. After showering and lunch, he plays games on his phone at the dining table.
4.13pm
School counsellor Karry Lung calls. Benjamin's mother tells her son that the school said he would not be allowed to attend a Secondary 3 school camp.
4.18pm
When she comes out of a toilet she had been cleaning, Benjamin's mother finds the boy's room locked. She opens it with a spare key. Her son is not in the room. A window is open and his phone is on his bed. Mrs Lim rushes downstairs with her daughter.
4.36pm
Benjamin is pronounced dead by paramedics.