Why Some Of The Boys Backed Out

[Retorth]

IN THEIR eyes, he was a brother to them, and the undisputed leader of the group.

Mature beyond his age, Ku Witaya was a friend they could always turn to for advice. By all accounts, the 16-year-old student had the full trust of his friends.

So much so that when the young, self-professed Taoist medium suggested a suicide pact as part of a grand plan to "sacrifice" themselves in order to save the world from demons, five of his teenage friends and Witaya's younger brother agreed.

But moments after Witaya and his close friend, Sia Chan Hong, also 16, pummelled nine floors to their deaths in the early hours of Aug 23 last year, the remaining five boys - aged between 13 and 18 now - backed out.

On the second day of the joint coroner's inquiry into the pair's deaths yesterday, details of the relationship among the friends emerged.

The five boys who took the stand yesterday included three who had entered the pact. Their identities cannot be revealed because of a court order.

The close-knit group hung out together often to play online computer games and basketball.

They also congregated at Witaya's home every week where on Fridays, the latter would perform rituals and go into a trance.

However, some of the boys were not completely convinced by Witaya's religious theories or his talk about the end of the world and their calling as slayers of demons, said the witnesses.

Although instructed by Witaya to meditate for four hours every day for 118 days in order to gain "spiritual powers" to defeat demons, a few of them did not comply.

Several of those who entered the pact were actually terrified of dying, the court heard.

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