Boy, 14, tied with raffia string
MYSTERY DEATH

By YEOH EN-LAI

A 14-YEAR-OLD schoolboy was found dead in a macabre manner by his sister when she returned to their Choa Chu Kang Central flat on Friday night.

Eugene Yang Zi Le's hands and feet were tied with red raffia string and his mouth covered with black cloth tape when the teenage girl came home at around 9 pm.

The bespectacled Eugene, a Secondary 3 student of Kranji Secondary School, also had a black belt tied round his upper arms and body. There were ligature marks around his neck.

The police said that he was wearing white shorts.

He was pronounced dead at around 9.50 pm.

The boy had been alone in the flat.

A police spokesman said there were no visible ""signs of forced entry'' into the four-room flat at Block 351 and that it had not been ransacked.

A neighbour said graffiti -- ""sex for hire'' -- and Eugene's unit number had been scrawled inside the lift earlier, but the sister erased it.

When The Sunday Times visited the block yesterday, the family declined to speak to reporters and only relatives and friends were let into the house.

A woman could, however, be heard crying inside.

Eugene was described as a good and well-mannered boy by those who knew him.

His class teacher, Mr Lim Gin Mia, said he was a nice, quiet student, and had attended school on Friday, a few hours before his death.

""The problem was that he was such a good boy. I feel guilty because I didn't pay a lot of attention to him... because I didn't need to.

""I saw him on Friday in class but we did not speak to each other.''

A neighbour who wanted to be known only as Mr Rahim said Eugene was polite and well-mannered, but he never saw much of him.

This is the second such death in 16 months.

In February last year, Low Wei Zhong from Northland Secondary, also 14, was found dead with his hands tied behind his back and a plastic bag over his head.

He was in his underwear and there was no sign of forced entry into the family flat in Woodlands Drive 14.

Eugene's death has been classified as unnatural for purposes of investigation by the police.