May 31, 2024, 09:59 AM
A 16-year-old international school student died after falling from a hotel room balcony at the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) hotel on Aug. 10, 2023.
He had been drinking at the Ce La Vi club in the hotel before his death.
According to a coroner's inquiry convened to look into his death, the student Gao was found drunk in the club, and police were eventually notified.
He fell to his death after police officers brought him back to his room to retrieve his belongings.
Allowed to drink at Ce La Vi even though underage
According to the coroner's findings dated May 17 seen by Mothership, the incident happened in the wee hours of the morning on Aug. 10, 2023.
Gao, who came from China, was studying in Singapore with his sister.
They had been staying at MBS hotel with their mother and grandmother during a school holiday, in a room booked by Gao's granduncle.
On Aug. 9, Gao's mother brought his grandmother back to the family apartment as she was feeling unwell, leaving the siblings to stay at the hotel by themselves.
Later the same night, Gao visited Ce La Vi at MBS with his sister and her boyfriend.
They were both only a year older than him and, therefore, all not of legal age to purchase alcohol.
Nonetheless, they managed to buy alcohol at the bar, and Gao had at least one glass of beer and six other alcoholic drinks ranging from shots to cocktails.
Found lying in a pool of vomit
At around 12:52am on Aug. 10, Gao was found alone lying face down in a pool of vomit, and a security officer of the bar was notified.
His sister and boyfriend left the bar without him as they claimed he said he wanted to stay.
The security officer tried to rouse him, but he was initially unresponsive. Subsequently, Gao woke up but did not respond to any questions.
Two other security officers arrived, but Gao, who was covered in vomit, remained very intoxicated and was muttering gibberish.
They sprinkled water on him to wash off some of the vomit and to try to sober him up.
After putting him in a wheelchair, the security officers searched Gao's belongings and found a MBS key card and his student card.
They eventually decided to bring him back to his room.
Security officers tried to bring him back to his room
CCTV footage showed Gao slumped in his wheelchair as he was wheeled to his hotel room.
However, when they arrived at around 1:42am, the security officers knocked on the door and pressed the room bell, but there was no response.
The security officers, who were employed by the bar, called MBS security officers for help instead.
A MBS security officer arrived to take over Gao and decided to wheel him down to the lobby.
CCTV footage showed that while in the lift, Gao became agitated and used his feet to push against the lift floor while flailing his arms.
At one point, he dropped to the ground but was assisted back up to the wheelchair.
They arrived at the lobby at around 2:03am. CCTV footage showed Gao slumped over in the wheelchair.
40 minutes later, at around 2:47am, MBS staff decided to call the paramedics, who arrived after receiving the message: "Male/35 years old/drunk".
When paramedics asked Gao for his identity, he said his identification card was in his hotel room.
They attempted to perform paramedic checks on him, but he was not cooperative, refused to allow the checks, and shouted at them.
The findings did not reveal if they were informed about his student card that previous security officers found on him and his actual age.
Police alerted
As Gao was uncooperative, the paramedics asked for police assistance. Two police officers arrived at around 3:22am.
According to one of the police officers, Gao appeared to have "sobered up" and told them he was staying in MBS in a room booked by his parents and had been drinking at Ce La Vi.
When the police officer asked him for his identification document, he told them it was in his room and agreed to return to the hotel room with them to retrieve it.
CCTV footage showed that while Gao appeared to be able to communicate with the police officer, he needed help picking up his personal items that were dropped on the floor while they were handed to him.
He also walked with an unsteady gait on his way back to his room but apparently could still communicate with the officers.
When they reached the hotel room at around 3:35am, Gao unlocked the room with his room card and entered while the officers waited outside with the door slightly ajar.
Less than a minute later, a security guard smoking nearby heard a loud sound before finding Gao lying on the ground.
Evidence concluded he climbed over balcony on own accord
According to the police officers' bodycam footage, when Gao did not appear from the room for about a minute, one of the officers decided to enter the room to check for him but discovered he had already fallen off the balcony.
Forensic officers found the indentation of a foot in the soil of a plantar box at the balcony, and prints on a glass barrier which suggested someone had held onto the top part of the railing with their hands.
The coroner found that Gao had no known psychiatric or psychological issues. His family and guardians described him as "sensible, mature, polite, optimistic and happy", while his teacher said he was an average student and was not anxious or concerned about his grades.
His sister, however, claimed that she recalled him facing relationship issues with his partner overseas, but he did not elaborate.
The coroner ruled there was no foul play, and Gao had climbed over the balcony on his own accord.
He noted that no evidence was found that the police or security officers treated Gao roughly or unprofessionally, nor was there evidence that Gao had displayed signs that he intended to take his own life.
"This intention may have manifested itself at the spur of the moment, or it may have been more longstanding," the coroner said.
"Unfortunately, we will never know."
On the issue of Ce La Vi allowing underage persons to purchase alcohol from their bar, investigations revealed that staff had not checked Gao's identification as "no one had any suspicions that he was underage".
Ce La Vi was charged with an offence of allowing liquor to be consumed by a person below the age of 18 under the Public Entertainments Act and had paid a composition fine with demerit points imposed.
The coroner emphasised that the sudden death of an otherwise healthy young person is always a tragedy and stressed that for people who have suicidal ideations, help will always be available from their family and/or friends, from medical practitioners, or from organisations which can provide round-the-clock help.
Helplines
If you or someone you know are in mental distress, here are some hotlines you can call to seek help, advice, or just a listening ear:
SOS 24-hour Hotline: 1-767
Singapore Association for Mental Health: 1800-283-7019
Institute of Mental Health: 6389-2222 (24 hours)
Tinkle Friend: 1800-274-4788 (for primary school-aged children)
SHECARES@SCWO: Call: 8001 01 4616 | WhatsApp: 6571 4400 (for targets of online harms)
Top image from Unsplash
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