SHE failed to show up for a court hearing yesterday. Then around noon, teenager Mernel Koh's body was found at the bottom of a block near her Bukit Batok home.

Next to her was the body of Mr Eddy Afendi, a 22-year-old Chinese Indonesian, whom Mernel, 15, had looked up to as a 'godfather', a close friend of hers said.

The two are believed to have fallen from the stairway between the ninth and 10th storeys of Block 127 at Bukit Batok West Avenue 6. Both were found clothed but barefooted.

A 10th-storey resident, Mr Rosman Ahmad Dini, 39, said his wife had told him about a group of people talking very loudly in the stairway yesterday morning.

Mr Rosman said that at about 12.20pm, he saw two pairs of slippers, a stool and a plastic bag containing glue in the stairway. He said he looked down towards the bottom of the block and saw two bodies.

It is not clear if the two had been sniffing glue before they fell.

The police said they received a call at about noon and have classified the deaths as unnatural.

It is believed that Mernel, a Fairfield Methodist Secondary student, was supposed to attend court yesterday on a shoplifting charge.

Mernel's close friend, Melody Soh, 15, described Mr Eddy as 'very good' and 'kind-hearted' and that their group of friends considered him their 'godfather'.

She told reporters at the scene that they met him at a video arcade in Bukit Batok.

'He was a very caring person. If you didn't have money, he would lend some money to you,' Melody said, adding that he had bought her a pair of sunglasses as a birthday present in August last year.

A young man, who gave his name as Fairuz, 19, and said to be Mernel's boyfriend, also told Chinese radio station 95.8 that she was supposed to appear in court yesterday.

He said he was with her the night before and did not detect anything wrong. But at 2am, she called him on the phone, sounding distressed.

'I tried to comfort her, but she cut off the call suddenly,' he reportedly said.

Mernel's family was too distraught to be interviewed.

Distraught

A woman, dressed in a black top and denim shorts, repeatedly called out 'Daughter!' in Hokkien upon seeing Mernel's body.

As three family members held her back, she cried out in Mandarin: 'Mummy won't cry. Mummy didn't cry. Can you hear Mummy calling you? I will take you home...'

A neighbour, who wanted to be known only as Madam Tay, 70, said she used to see Mernel hanging out with her friends in the void decks around Block 127.

She said she and Mernel were friendly to each other, and she usually saw the teenager 'dressed very nicely' and going out.

Counsellor Sheena Jebal, founder of the Nulife Care and Counselling Services, said of Mernel's death: 'She might have been under the influence of inhalant abuse. Through counselling, alternatives to self-destruction can be explored.

'This girl probably had lots of fear in her and wasn't able to express it. Her fears could have been understood if she had gone through counselling.'

Hotlines for troubled youth

Samaritans of Singapore (SOS): 1800 221 4444

Nulife Care and Counselling Services: 6300 8706

Touchline (Touch Youth Service): 1800 377 2252

Care Corner Mandarin Counselling Centre: 1800 353 5800