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SINGAPORE - Darren Ng Wei Jie was 19 when he was hacked to death during a gang fight at Downtown East in Pasir Ris two years ago.
The polytechnic student, who was himself armed with a retractable baton at the time, was killed over a staring incident.
His mother, however, wants people to know her son's life was more than what was summed up in those few sentences contained in the court documents of his killers' trials, which were concluded in recent months.
The last of the 12 young people involved in the fatal gang clash was sentenced on Sept 24 this year.
Darren was timid enough to freak out at the sight of a cockroach or a beetle, said the petite 49-year-old woman who is still broken from losing her only son.
She asked to be identified only as Mrs Ng.
He was a hyperactive child who grew into a curious and sociable teenager, she said.
She believes it was her son's curiosity that led him to fall into the wrong company, and eventually, his death.
His behaviour, she recounted, started to change when he went to secondary school.
He spent most of his time with his friends and stopped going to church with his family, although he never missed their dinners together on weekends, said Mrs Ng.
Then one day, she and her husband found out about Darren's tattoo.
Mrs Ng said: "He went down on his knees and cried. He assured me that the tattoo was not gang-related. He told me it was a trend to get one, and I believed him.
"He never flashed his tattoo at home. He respected me and his dad."
On Oct 30, 2010, Darren was with his friends at Downtown East when a group of gang members approached him and accused him of staring at them.
One of the gang members and Darren shoved each other aggressively, before a fight broke out between the two groups of young people.
Darren fought with a baton, whereas some of the rival gang members were armed with knives. He didn't have a chance.
He was chased down, stabbed and slashed 28 times in the head, neck, chest and limbs, before collapsing outside a restaurant in the resort.
Darren died in hospital about five hours later.
Twelve young people have since been given jail sentences of between three years and 12 years and at least three strokes of the cane for causing Darren's death.
It still hurts Mrs Ng to know that most people think he would have come from a broken, socially disadvantaged home. In fact, he grew up in a close-knit, upper middle class family, in a three-bedroom private apartment in Pasir Ris.
Mrs Ng is a secretary, her husband is a civil servant turned businessman and Darren's older sister, 25, is a graduate.
The family went to church every Sunday, and did things together on weekends, like going bowling. Once a year, they would go on holiday.
Their last one was to Tokyo in 2009.
In the same month that Darren was killed, he had gone with his father on a business trip to Taiwan.
They visited night markets and played shooting games at the arcade.
Darren was the clown in the family, said Mrs Ng. He would play pranks on her as she dried their laundry in the yard.
She said: "He would lock me in the yard and I had to beg him to open the door. When I got in, we would chase each other around the apartment, trying to spank each other's backside.
"Once, he put on a scary mask to freak me out in the dark, but ended up scaring himself when he saw his reflection in the mirror."
His death nearly tore the family apart.
When no place in their home provided a refuge because it reminded them of him, they moved into a relative's flat.
The three shared a room, but went into their own corners every night to cry.
Eventually, Darren's father and sister returned to work. But his mother, who needed psychiatric help, was falling apart.
For almost half a year, friends from church worked out a roster to keep her company while her husband and daughter were at work.
The family is grateful for the support from relatives and church friends, Mrs Ng told The Sunday Times. It kept her from ending her own life.
She had thought about it when she remembered reading about how another mother was found dead in her flat after her son, also a polytechnic student, had been beaten to death in Lucky Chinatown in 2003.
"People tell me that time heals. But I know that time will never take away my pain, unless I have my son back," said Mrs Ng.
"Life is about choices. My son made the wrong choice. I could have taken my own life, but I chose to live for my loved ones."
Mrs Ng found a job last year. Earlier this year, the family moved to their new apartment in the east, which they had bought before Darren died.
The room originally earmarked to be his is now a space for young people from their church to hang out on weekends.
The family remains close, supporting one another.
Darren's belongings remain in a warehouse. No one can bear to dispose of them.
And unlike in their previous apartment, there are no family photos in their new home.
Mrs Ng does not carry a photo of her son in her purse or mobile phone. It is too painful.
The last time she saw him, on the morning of the day he died, he was leaving for a guitar lesson.
Like any teen, Darren had dreams. His was a career in the music industry, she said, tearfully.
But every parent's greatest fear became her reality.
"I believe every parent wants the best for their child. It is their biggest worry that their children would mix with the wrong company and something bad would happen to them.
"I really hope that such senseless tragedy will not happen to another young life."
She would have young people know that when they join a gang, their families suffer the most.
"Your so-called gang leader will not be there for you. Just look at Darren, where was his leader? He created a problem and did not even show up at Downtown East," said Mrs Ng.
Asked if she had forgiven the 12 young people who are now in jail, she said: "To those who are given a second chance to live, don't let my pain go to waste."
The polytechnic student, who was himself armed with a retractable baton at the time, was killed over a staring incident.
His mother, however, wants people to know her son's life was more than what was summed up in those few sentences contained in the court documents of his killers' trials, which were concluded in recent months.
The last of the 12 young people involved in the fatal gang clash was sentenced on Sept 24 this year.
Darren was timid enough to freak out at the sight of a cockroach or a beetle, said the petite 49-year-old woman who is still broken from losing her only son.
She asked to be identified only as Mrs Ng.
He was a hyperactive child who grew into a curious and sociable teenager, she said.
She believes it was her son's curiosity that led him to fall into the wrong company, and eventually, his death.
His behaviour, she recounted, started to change when he went to secondary school.
He spent most of his time with his friends and stopped going to church with his family, although he never missed their dinners together on weekends, said Mrs Ng.
Then one day, she and her husband found out about Darren's tattoo.
Mrs Ng said: "He went down on his knees and cried. He assured me that the tattoo was not gang-related. He told me it was a trend to get one, and I believed him.
"He never flashed his tattoo at home. He respected me and his dad."
On Oct 30, 2010, Darren was with his friends at Downtown East when a group of gang members approached him and accused him of staring at them.
One of the gang members and Darren shoved each other aggressively, before a fight broke out between the two groups of young people.
Darren fought with a baton, whereas some of the rival gang members were armed with knives. He didn't have a chance.
He was chased down, stabbed and slashed 28 times in the head, neck, chest and limbs, before collapsing outside a restaurant in the resort.
Darren died in hospital about five hours later.
Twelve young people have since been given jail sentences of between three years and 12 years and at least three strokes of the cane for causing Darren's death.
It still hurts Mrs Ng to know that most people think he would have come from a broken, socially disadvantaged home. In fact, he grew up in a close-knit, upper middle class family, in a three-bedroom private apartment in Pasir Ris.
Mrs Ng is a secretary, her husband is a civil servant turned businessman and Darren's older sister, 25, is a graduate.
The family went to church every Sunday, and did things together on weekends, like going bowling. Once a year, they would go on holiday.
Their last one was to Tokyo in 2009.
In the same month that Darren was killed, he had gone with his father on a business trip to Taiwan.
They visited night markets and played shooting games at the arcade.
Darren was the clown in the family, said Mrs Ng. He would play pranks on her as she dried their laundry in the yard.
She said: "He would lock me in the yard and I had to beg him to open the door. When I got in, we would chase each other around the apartment, trying to spank each other's backside.
"Once, he put on a scary mask to freak me out in the dark, but ended up scaring himself when he saw his reflection in the mirror."
His death nearly tore the family apart.
When no place in their home provided a refuge because it reminded them of him, they moved into a relative's flat.
The three shared a room, but went into their own corners every night to cry.
Eventually, Darren's father and sister returned to work. But his mother, who needed psychiatric help, was falling apart.
For almost half a year, friends from church worked out a roster to keep her company while her husband and daughter were at work.
The family is grateful for the support from relatives and church friends, Mrs Ng told The Sunday Times. It kept her from ending her own life.
She had thought about it when she remembered reading about how another mother was found dead in her flat after her son, also a polytechnic student, had been beaten to death in Lucky Chinatown in 2003.
"People tell me that time heals. But I know that time will never take away my pain, unless I have my son back," said Mrs Ng.
"Life is about choices. My son made the wrong choice. I could have taken my own life, but I chose to live for my loved ones."
Mrs Ng found a job last year. Earlier this year, the family moved to their new apartment in the east, which they had bought before Darren died.
The room originally earmarked to be his is now a space for young people from their church to hang out on weekends.
The family remains close, supporting one another.
Darren's belongings remain in a warehouse. No one can bear to dispose of them.
And unlike in their previous apartment, there are no family photos in their new home.
Mrs Ng does not carry a photo of her son in her purse or mobile phone. It is too painful.
The last time she saw him, on the morning of the day he died, he was leaving for a guitar lesson.
Like any teen, Darren had dreams. His was a career in the music industry, she said, tearfully.
But every parent's greatest fear became her reality.
"I believe every parent wants the best for their child. It is their biggest worry that their children would mix with the wrong company and something bad would happen to them.
"I really hope that such senseless tragedy will not happen to another young life."
She would have young people know that when they join a gang, their families suffer the most.
"Your so-called gang leader will not be there for you. Just look at Darren, where was his leader? He created a problem and did not even show up at Downtown East," said Mrs Ng.
Asked if she had forgiven the 12 young people who are now in jail, she said: "To those who are given a second chance to live, don't let my pain go to waste."
