You won't see me tomorrow, girl told school friend
Teenager also gave out photo stickers before her suicide
A 15-year-old girl who jumped to her death in Tin Shui Wai last year told a school friend 'you will not see me tomorrow' a day before her tragic act, the Coroner's Court heard yesterday.
Ho Man-ying, 16, one of the three students from Tin Shui Wai Government Secondary School summoned to give evidence on the suicide of Yip Ying-sin, told the court she found it 'a bit strange' that the girl distributed photo stickers to her classmates and teacher on November 10 last year. The pictures were of Yip and Ms Ho.
Yip, who was described as an exemplary student by the school, plunged to her death from a block in Tin Yat Estate early in the morning of November 11 last year.
She was the fourth student from the school to commit suicide in three years.
Ms Ho said that when she asked her friend why she was distributing photos, Yip replied it was 'for the memories'.
'She said in class: 'I will go, you won't be able to see me tomorrow' ... I thought she was joking because she always liked to joke,' said the student.
Ms Ho said that Yip kept saying 'I will go' as the two of them were on a staircase after school was finished that day.
'I even told her jokingly: 'Don't go. It will be a waste if you do that since you are so smart',' Ms Ho told the court.
Although Yip was described by her family as a cheerful girl, Ms Ho told the court that she had been found crying on three occasions between October and November last year.
She broke down with some other students in October last year after learning of the suicide of a classmate.
Once she was found crying after a barbecue organised by her teacher and classmates, over a seat- arrangement issue in her class.
Another time, she was in tears in a school washroom after taking a maths exam, the court was told.
Lam Hoi-wan, the school's social worker and one of the witnesses, told the court she had never heard of any problems involving Yip until after her death.
Ms Lam said she was the only social worker at the school, which has 1,151 students.
She said that under many circumstances, students and teachers would be the ones to alert her to students with serious psychological problems, as they were in the closest contact with them.
The court heard that the teachers who counsel students at school - unlike the social worker - were not given a set of guidelines by the Social Welfare Department to cope with students' emotional problems.
Coroner Peter White said the school's support system for students 'seems to rely too much on the expertise of a teacher in a field [in] which he is not an expert'.
The inquest continues today.
