Singapore judge rules US engineer committed suicide
Source: Agencies |
July 9, 2013, Tuesday
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A judge ruled yesterday that an American engineer who was found dead in his apartment in Singapore last year killed himself, rejecting suspicions by the man's parents that he was murdered because of research into sensitive technology.
The inquest into Shane Truman Todd's death has been criticized by Todd's parents, who walked out of hearings earlier this year, saying they had lost faith in the process.
Todd's body was found by his girlfriend in June 2012. State counsel presented evidence of links to suicide websites on the 31-year-old's laptop and suicide letters written to family members and loved ones.
Judge Chay Yuen Fatt said yesterday he found no evidence of foul play, ruling that Todd "committed suicide by hanging himself."
Chay recorded the official cause of death as "asphyxia due to hanging" and voiced hopes that Todd's family would be able to find closure.
Todd's parents have said they believe he may have been murdered over his research in the US into material used to make heat-resistant semiconductors, a technology with both civilian and military applications.
Todd's father, Rick, left Singapore with his wife, Mary, in May before the inquest ended, saying they believe the evidence of suicide presented by Singapore's police was faked.
Mary Todd said from her home state of Montana after the judge's ruling that "today's result means nothing to us because we expected it." Her husband said last week the family no longer trusts Singapore's legal system.
"It was apparent that the state was only interested in proving suicide and that was why we left," Rick Todd wrote in an e-mail. "It became obvious from the court that they never investigated the possibility of murder."
Singapore's Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam said in May the family should have testified during the inquest, adding their assertions could have been properly addressed. The inquest ruling cannot be appealed.
While Todd's parents were in Singapore, they said they found a hard drive in their son's apartment that contained documents he had backed up from his work computer, including a draft of a project outline between Singapore's Institute of Microelectronics - Shane Todd's former employer - and Chinese telecom giant Huawei on the development of a device that utilized gallium nitride.
The heat-resistant material has civilian uses in products like LED screens and cellphone towers, and military applications possibly for radar and satellite systems.
The inquest into Shane Truman Todd's death has been criticized by Todd's parents, who walked out of hearings earlier this year, saying they had lost faith in the process.
Todd's body was found by his girlfriend in June 2012. State counsel presented evidence of links to suicide websites on the 31-year-old's laptop and suicide letters written to family members and loved ones.
Judge Chay Yuen Fatt said yesterday he found no evidence of foul play, ruling that Todd "committed suicide by hanging himself."
Chay recorded the official cause of death as "asphyxia due to hanging" and voiced hopes that Todd's family would be able to find closure.
Todd's parents have said they believe he may have been murdered over his research in the US into material used to make heat-resistant semiconductors, a technology with both civilian and military applications.
Todd's father, Rick, left Singapore with his wife, Mary, in May before the inquest ended, saying they believe the evidence of suicide presented by Singapore's police was faked.
Mary Todd said from her home state of Montana after the judge's ruling that "today's result means nothing to us because we expected it." Her husband said last week the family no longer trusts Singapore's legal system.
"It was apparent that the state was only interested in proving suicide and that was why we left," Rick Todd wrote in an e-mail. "It became obvious from the court that they never investigated the possibility of murder."
Singapore's Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam said in May the family should have testified during the inquest, adding their assertions could have been properly addressed. The inquest ruling cannot be appealed.
While Todd's parents were in Singapore, they said they found a hard drive in their son's apartment that contained documents he had backed up from his work computer, including a draft of a project outline between Singapore's Institute of Microelectronics - Shane Todd's former employer - and Chinese telecom giant Huawei on the development of a device that utilized gallium nitride.
The heat-resistant material has civilian uses in products like LED screens and cellphone towers, and military applications possibly for radar and satellite systems.
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