SEBERANG PERAI, Feb 1 — Police must investigate the teachers for allegedly interrogating a student who later tried to kill herself after they accused her of stealing, said the teen’s family today.
A group who has been supporting the family went further by suggesting a murder investigation.
Speaking at the hospital where Vasanthapiriya Muniandy, 13, died early this morning, they insisted that the case must be investigated thoroughly.[The girl's uncle] Manogaran said the teachers who allegedly threatened his niece and accused her of stealing should be held responsible for his niece’s death.
The teacher who allegedly detained the girl for four hours after the incident has reportedly been transferred.
“We have lodged police report but till today, the police have not arrested anyone,” he said. [...]
[Malaysian Tamilar Kural president David Marshel Pakianathan said] “She was bullied by the teachers to the point that she took her own life, this is due to what the teachers did to her,” he said.
On January 24, Vasanthapiriya had been taken to the teachers’ room where a teacher accused her of stealing her handphone.
In the incident, where three other teachers were also present, the teacher also threatened to report the girl to the police.
The teacher then allegedly locked the student in a room for several hours before taking her home to confront her parents.
David alleged that the teacher and her husband had taken the student out of the school without the parents’ consent.
“We don’t know what happened in the car when the teacher and her husband took her home,” he said.
He said the state Education Department has said that the teacher was transferred but her husband, who is also a teacher, remained a teacher in the school.
I am not sure about murder which is a BIG crime and must have what the law called 'intentionality'.
Wikipedia says [about British Law] that:
Wikipedia says [about British Law] that:
Murder is an offence under the common law of England and Wales. It is considered the most serious form of homicide, in which one person kills another with the intention to unlawfully cause either death or serious injury.
The element of intentionality was originally termed malice aforethought although it required neither malice nor premeditation.
Because murder is generally defined in law as an intent to cause serious harm or injury (alone or with others), combined with a death arising from that intention, there are certain circumstances where a death will be treated as murder even if the defendant did not wish to kill the actual victim. This is called "transferred malice", and arises in two common cases:
Because murder is generally defined in law as an intent to cause serious harm or injury (alone or with others), combined with a death arising from that intention, there are certain circumstances where a death will be treated as murder even if the defendant did not wish to kill the actual victim. This is called "transferred malice", and arises in two common cases:
- The defendant intended serious harm to one or more persons, but an unintended other person dies as a result;
- Several people share an intent to do serious harm, and the victim dies because of the action of any of those involved (for example, if another person goes "further than expected" or performs an unexpectedly lethal action).
- allegedly threatening her with a police report
- locking her in a room for several hours
- taking her to her home to confront her parents
... shamed her to such an extent she took her own life. Remember, she was only 13 years old. But did the teacher go "further than expected" in her actions - we need to remember it's difficult to define what is meant by "further than expected".
I am not a lawyer so I can't tell whether there was 'intentionality' or 'transferred malice' thus whether it was murder.
But I have been and still am disgusted with her teacher's actions which went overboard (might be different from "further than expected"), based merely on unsubstantiated suspicion that Vasanthapiriya was the unidentified girl captured in the school's CCTV.
I am not a lawyer so I can't tell whether there was 'intentionality' or 'transferred malice' thus whether it was murder.
But I have been and still am disgusted with her teacher's actions which went overboard (might be different from "further than expected"), based merely on unsubstantiated suspicion that Vasanthapiriya was the unidentified girl captured in the school's CCTV.
In other words, she was hounded, harassed and shamed based on her teacher's unsound suspicions. Would it be reasonable to expect a 13-year old girl then to commit suicide?
I can feel the stress which the victim was forced to endure by the teacher. It was so severe that eventually the victim was left feeling hopeless and suicidal for fear that she would be an object of ridicule. It is certainly a psychological abuse. But under what law?
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