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A father, Lawrence Li See Kit, is suing the Debate Association (Singapore) for unspecified damages over the death of his son, Lucas Li Guangsheng.

The trial began on Nov. 8, 2022.

Li said he is confident that his son would still be alive today if he was given a chance to tell his side of the story.

Lucas took his own life on Aug. 8, 2018.

He was 31.

Li sued the Debate Association for negligence and the way they handled investigations and published allegations against his son.

Son accused of misconduct

A day prior to his demise on Aug. 7, 2018, the executive committee of the association issued a public statement, titled "Allegations of Misconduct Against a Former Director of the Debate Development Initiative", but Lucas was not named in the statement.

The association's executive committee said in its statement it had decided to permanently ban a member from all events.

The person was accused of having behaved inappropriately in his capacity as a former director of the debate development initiative (DDI), which was founded by Lucas in 2012.

The accusation was that DDI programme participants engaged in discussions of a sexual nature in a WhatsApp chat group created by Lucas.

The debate training programme was for young debaters.

Did not have opportunity to respond

Li alleged that the association did not give Lucas a reasonable opportunity to respond to the misconduct allegations, according to court documents provided by Li's lawyer, Paul Ong.

Furthermore, the court document said the complaint concerning a physical sexual encounter between Lucas and a member of the chat group was not credible as the complainant had admitted in or around March 2015 that there was no inappropriate physical contact with the deceased.

Moreover, the auditors appointed by the executive committee to conduct an independent audit of the DDI programme were active members of the debate community who knew Lucas, and Li claimed that they were not in a position to conduct an independent, fair and impartial investigation, as they were not neutral or fair.

The case is premised on the actions that supposedly led to Lucas' suicide, as the association and its members knew of Lucas' mental condition and risk of suicide.

What happened in court

Li took the stand on Tuesday, CNA reported.

He said the auditors could not have been fair and did not follow protocol during their investigations, and that association members would have known about Lucas's mental condition as he posted about it on Facebook.

Court documents indicated that Lucas suffered from cyclothymia, a mental disorder that involves periods of depression and mood swings, and he was a patient at the Institute of Mental Health from October 2017, where he was treated for having suicidal tendencies.

Li said he believed that Lucas would still be alive today, if the debate association had acted properly and treated him with the respect Lucas deserved.

CNA reported that when questioned by the defendant's lawyer, Darren Tan, Li asserted that his son would have been able to take it if he was confronted with the allegations and even if they were true.

Li said: "It doesn't matter whether it's false, it's true. The point here is that he was not given a chance to speak, so I can't attest to whether the allegation is true or false."

Li also said he did not believe Lucas killed himself because the allegations were true.

The exchange between the defendant's lawyer and Li also touched on the prospective earnings of Lucas had he not taken his own life.

Li said Lucas's career prospects were bright, even if he was found guilty, as he would have to face the music first.

The trial continues on Nov. 9.

Background

Lucas was a government scholar employed by Enterprise Singapore, a statutory board of the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

The court document highlighted that he was a prominent and respected figure in the Singapore debate community, having represented Singapore in international debate competitions in 2005.

Lucas's role in the training and development programme for young debaters was described as creating developmental and competitive debate opportunities for students from schools without sufficient resources.

Lucas was accused of being the moderator of a WhatsApp group chat called DDI Darkness, where sexual comments were exchanged between him and other participants.

In addition, Lucas allegedly pressured a certain group chat member to exchange explicit photos, which allegedly culminated in a physical sexual encounter initiated by him.

The executive committee then decided to permanently ban Lucas from all events of the Debate Association (Singapore) after conducting its internal investigations -- proceedings that Lucas's father took issue with.

In addition, the executive community notified their partner organisations to prevent Lucas from entering any competitions or camps co-organised by Debate Association.

A police report was also filed against Lucas and his employers were informed.

Photos via Tributes to Lucas Li Facebook