Minister sets out facts, falsehoods of Benjamin Lim case

SINGAPORE — The police had sought out Benjamin Lim for questioning over a case of alleged molestation, because CCTV footage showed that he was the boy in school uniform who had entered a lift with the victim on the day of the incident, after appearing to have followed her.

And when police officers went down to Benjamin’s school to look for him, they were dressed in plain clothes. 

Delivering a ministerial statement on the death of Benjamin in Parliament on Tuesday (March 1), Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam set out the known facts of the case as well as details of the police investigation, noting that falsehoods had been spread about the case to blemish the police. 

Mr Shanmugam also said that, based on the evidence available in Benjamin’s case, it is likely that he would have received no more than a warning, and would not have been charged in court, adding that the police would have taken into account his young age and clean record prior to the alleged offence.

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Benjamin, 14, a Secondary 3 student, was found dead hours after he returned home from being questioned by the police on Jan 26. A day earlier, an 11-year-old girl’s family had reported to the police that she had been molested in a lift. 

On Tuesday, Mr Shanmugam said CCTV footage retrieved by the police showed some of what Benjamin did after school on the day of the incident. 

The footage showed a boy — later identified as Benjamin — in his school uniform, appearing to make a detour on his way home from school to another block in his neighbourhood, and hastily following the girl into the lift after she entered it.

The footage from inside the lift also showed the interaction between Benjamin and the girl, said Mr Shanmugam. Benjamin, said the minister, later admitted to the police that he had touched a part of the girl’s body — which corroborated what the girl had reported — and this was done intentionally.  

Mr Shanmugam said it would appear that Benjamin’s purpose in getting into the lift was to follow her, and after the incident, he got out.

After identifying that the boy was from Northview Secondary School, the police went to the school on Jan 26. A total of five officers went: Three from Yishun North neighbourhood police centre and two from the Ang Mo Kio division. 

The three neighbourhood police officers were present to primarily facilitate the process and none were in any clothing or T-shirt with the word ‘Police’, said Mr Shanmugam. The police officers also went in unmarked cars, he added.

School officials identified the boy in the video as Benjamin after being shown a screenshot of the CCTV footage. After Benjamin was brought to the principal’s office, one police officer spoke to him, in the presence of some of the school’s educators, said Mr Shanmugam. 

Subsequently, the police took Benjamin back to Ang Mo Kio Police Station to record his statement after informing his mother. The interview at the station, conducted by one officer, was done in an open plan office with other officers doing their work nearby. 

Benjamin, Mr Shanmugam pointed out, was not handcuffed at any time, and after being interviewed, he was offered food and drink, which he declined. 

In total, he spent about three-and-a-half hours at the station. 

Mr Shanmugam said some of the falsehoods on the case being spread include the assertion that the police were not in plainclothes when they went to the school to identify him, that Benjamin was interviewed and intimidated by five police officers, and that he was coerced into making an admission to an offence he did not commit. 

Some have also said that Benjamin was not given food and drink, and some even suggested the girl might not have been molested and might have made a false report.

Mr Shanmugan cited a Feb 5 article by socio-political website The Online Citizen, which stated the police wore attire stating “Police” while seeking out Benjamin at his school. 

The article had relied on a post from a woman named Mary Anne Pereira, who claimed her son had seen this. But when the police followed up with Ms Pereira, she said she had got her dates wrong, and later took down her post, said Mr Shanmugam.