Dr Shane Todd’s colleagues at the Institute of Microelectronics (IME) yesterday testified that they did not think he was depressed, although he did inform them of his regret in crossing over to the Gallium Nitride research group.

Said Dr Susai Lawrence Selvaraj: “I recall him telling me, soon after I joined the IME in March last year, that he was planning to resign from the IME.”

“Shane told me that he had personal commitments and that he wanted to go home. Shane also mentioned that he had made a mistake in joining the GaN group because his expertise was in Silicon and not GaN.”

Dr Wang Weizhu added that at Dr Todd’s farewell dinner on June 21 last year — the eve of his last day at work — “Shane told us that he found it difficult to perform well in the GaN group because the nature of the work he was doing in the GaN Group was unrelated to his doctoral studies”.

Dr Todd was found hanged in his apartment on June 24.

Dr Patrick Lo, who is the supervisor of the GaN programme said he was informed of Dr Todd’s intention to resign on March 2 last year saying that “he missed home”. But Dr Lo advised him to formally tender his resignation after May so that he could collect his performance bonus.

Dr Todd’s performance at IME from April 1, 2011 to March 31 last year was rated as “very good”. He received a performance bonus of S$22,568 and salary adjustment from S$5,344 to S$5,515.

AMIR HUSSAIN