An autopsy conducted on a 13-year-old boy who died last week following alleged school bullying found no signs of external force, but the results of a toxicology report are still pending, Tainan prosecutors said yesterday.
Officials from the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office and a specialist from the Ministry of Justice’s Institute of Forensic Medicine conducted the autopsy yesterday morning at a mortuary.
At about 1pm, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Tsai Tsung-sheng (蔡宗聖) said they had made a preliminary determination that no suspicious or external force was involved in the boy’s death.
Photo: Wang Chieh, Taipei Times
As for the possibility of a toxic reaction, the forensic specialist took samples of the boy’s hair and blood, which would be sent for analysis, Tsai said, adding that the cause of death would only be confirmed after the results come back.
The case in came to light on Thursday last week after the boy’s mother posted on Facebook that her son had died on Monday last week.
She said a subsequent blood test conducted by a hospital had found “signs of poisoning from a toxic substance.”
The mother said that some students said her son had been bullied for a long time and even taken to the restroom by other classmates who allegedly force-fed him drug-laced coffee powder.
In a separate social media post the same day, the school principal said the student had not gone to school since Feb. 20 due to being unwell, adding that the two students suspected of involvement in the case underwent several urine tests for illicit drugs, all of which came back negative.
The Tainan City Government on Friday last week published a timeline of events leading up to the boy’s death based on records from Houbi Junior High School, where he was enrolled in seventh grade.
It said the boy, surnamed Lin (林), had been diagnosed and was taking medication for attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder in early January, after being referred for behavioral issues at school.
Lin on Jan. 23 got into an argument with a female classmate, after which a male student, surnamed Yang (楊), confronted and threatened him in a bathroom.
Yang received a warning after the incident, and Lin’s family later accused him and the female student of bullying.
After the Lunar New Year holiday, Lin attended school normally from Feb. 5 to 12. On Feb. 13, he was called in sick by his family, and the school recommended that he immediately seek medical attention. He was also referred to a counselor, school records showed.
Lin missed school again on Feb. 17 and 18 in a state of severe emotional distress, according to the records.
He was taken to see a doctor by his grandmother on Feb. 20 and by his homeroom teacher on Feb. 21, and had also been scheduled for a follow-up appointment on Monday last week, the school said.
According to media reports, Lin was taken to the hospital at about 3am on Monday last week after experiencing convulsions and died later that morning.
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