A 14-year-old student surnamed Chou (周) died after jumping from the 27th floor of the building where he resided in New Taipei City on Thursday night, after his parents confiscated a new Apple iPhone 6 that he had bought out of his savings.
The student had asked his parents for the smartphone before, but was turned down, as his parents were afraid he would become addicted to games on the phone.
At 5pm on Thursday, Chou returned to the apartment building where his family lived. He appeared to be initially heading to the family’s 14th-floor apartment, but did not exit the elevator when it arrived and instead went to the 26th floor and took the stairs to the 27th floor.
The building’s security, who heard a loud crash, found Chou lying beside the community pool with no heartbeat. The security guard then informed Chou’s elder brother, who was studying in the building complex’s reading room on the ground floor, and proceeded to alert the police and Chou’s parents.
According to a preliminary investigation, Chou came from a fairly well-off family, the son of two teachers.
Chou had reportedly asked his parents to buy him the iPhone 6, but was turned down. He then used his savings to buy the phone on Sunday last week for NT$32,900.
Chou’s parents said they discovered that he had bought the phone and, after scolding him, confiscated the device.
Chou’s Facebook posts showed that he found classes to be unengaging and difficult, leaving him bored, and that he disliked schoolwork, the police said.
They said it was possible that the combination of the phone being confiscated by his parents and school pressure led to his decision to commit suicide.
Chou did not exhibit any signs of stress at school, but it was unknown if his family had pressured him at home, the school said.
School authorities said that when he was seen at the end of classes on Thursday, Chou seemed to be in somewhat good spirits, and they did not expect such a tragedy to occur.
Additional reporting by Tseng Chien-ming and Hsieh Chia-chun
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