SINGAPORE — Not having heard from him over the weekend despite her repeated text messages and an unanswered call, a “very worried” Ms Shirley Sarmiento took a taxi to her boyfriend Shane Truman Todd’s apartment in Chinatown on the evening of June 24 last year. But upon reaching the apartment, Ms Sarmiento found the 31-year-old Todd, a former research scientist with the Institute of Microelectronics (IME) who had ended work there two days earlier, hanging from the door of the toilet in the master bedroom. Todd’s face and body was “all white but purple from his elbow down to his fingers and from his knees down to his toes”, said Ms Sarmiento, a staff nurse with the Emergency Department of Tan Tock Seng Hospital. “The purple colour from Shane’s elbows and from his knees was probably caused by bloody pooling due to the effect of gravity. Every other part of Shane’s body was white and there was hardened fluid coming out from Shane’s nose,” Ms Sarmiento, 27, said in her statement to the police, which was signed weeks ago and read out by Senior State Counsel Tai Wei Shyong this morning (May 13), on the first day of the Coroner’s Inquiry into Todd’s death. The high profile Coroner’s Inquiry, which saw a packed courtroom mainly filled with reporters from local and international media, aims to ascertain the cause of and circumstances surrounding Todd’s death. Todd’s parents, who are attending the inquiry, believe that he was murdered over research he had done while working for IME and have raised doubts about the way police investigations were carried out. SUICIDE-RELATED WEBSITES Earlier the court heard that the browser history on Todd’s laptop showed that suicide-related websites had been accessed on 19 different occasions between March 10 and June 23 last year. Todd accessed most these websites dealing with suicide and depression mostly in May 2012. The last suicide-related webpage accessed was on June 23, 2012, the day before Todd was found hanged. Mr Tai also said in his opening statement that police officers who responded to Todd’s apartment found him “hanging from a black strap in front of a door within the bedroom. The strap appeared to be secured to the top of the door”. A noose, which was fashioned from the strap, was around Todd’s neck and a white towel was also wrapped around his neck under the strap. But no foul play was observed by the police, Mr Tai said. It was also revealed that Todd had left a note on his laptop to his family and girlfriend telling them that he loved them and was sorry for the pain he caused them. The note was found after the Investigating Officer accessed the laptop using a password written on a post-it note. Todd’s mother subsequently handed over some tablets and the name card of psychiatrist Dr Nelson Lee, which she found in the apartment, to the police. Analysis by the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) found that the tablets contained the anti-depressant Citalopram. But according to the toxicology report from the HSA, no foreign compounds, including Citalopram, had been found in Todd’s blood and urine. The evidence of his colleagues the State will call to the stand, Mr Tai said, will show that Todd had little experience working with Gallium Nitride (GaN) semi-conductors and “found it difficult to cope with his work in the GaN research group”. “This led to a gradual change in his demeanour and behaviours in the months before his passing,” Mr Tai added. FRIENDS DISAGREE HE WAS SUICIDAL Taking the stand as the State’s first witness in the morning, Ms Sarmiento testified that Todd told her he was unhappy with working in a “dishonest environment”, although he did not elaborate. She also knew that he had been depressed since October 2011. Todd was also a “perfectionist” who would proofread his research papers “many times”. Whenever they cooked together, “he always had to measure, precisely, the quantity of ingredients required”, Ms Sarmiento testified in her statement, which was read out by Mr Tai. But according to her observations, when Ms Sarmiento slept over at his apartment almost every weekend, Todd did not display any suicidal tendencies and he also exercised regularly. Todd’s housemate, Mr Michael William Goodwin, and close friends Ali Gilles Tchenguise Miserez and Bart Richard Lendrum also took the stand in the morning. While all testified that Todd was unhappy and under pressure from work, they did not feel that he was suicidal. Several police officers will take the stand once the inquiry resumes after lunch. At the Coroner’s Inquiry which will last till the end of the month, the Todd family can question investigation findings, as well as forensic and medical reports. They will also have the opportunity to raise concerns relating to the case. After that, the State Coroner will review the evidence and independently determine the cause of Dr Todd’s death. Some 60 witnesses are expected to take the stand in all. The Todd family is being represented by a team of five lawyers led by Ms Gloria James-Civetta. WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CHANNEL NEWSASIA