HE was a typical 18-year-old who had dreams of finishing high school before moving on to pursue bigger things.

He was humble, respectful and never fought with anyone.

“He was just a regular teen”, said T. Nhaveen’s cousin Ashwin Akshay.

“Nhaveen had a serious interest in music in recent years. I think he learnt it from a friend.

“He liked Indian classical music and R&B and could compose music on his laptop,” he told The Malaysian Insight outside the Penang Hospital mortuary.

He had talked about pursuing his musical interest further after completing his studies.

But it will forever remain just a dream as Nhaveen will never be able to complete his secondary education, nor pursue his dreams like any other typical 18-year-old.

For six days after he was brutally assaulted and sodomised before being left to die, Nhaveen succumbed to his injuries at 5.30pm yesterday. 

Ashwin last saw his cousin when Nhaveen went to his house for dinner the night before he was assaulted by a group of youths in Island Glades, near his home in Taman Tun Sardon.

Nhaveen, he said, still talked about his dreams to be a music composer then.

“He was going to take a music course. He was supposed to go to Kuala Lumpur on Monday,” he said.

Some of the boys who assaulted him were his former schoolmates. It is believed that they also bullied him when they were in the same school.

Following Nhaveen’s death yesterday, the five suspects are being investigated for murder.

Ashwin said everyone in the family was shocked and broken apart by what had happened to his cousin.

“He was like a brother to me. Nhaveen, his mother and 16-year-old sister were a close-knit family.”

Ashwin said they had good times hanging out together with Nhaveen’s other friends.

Nhaveen’s friend Thana, 18, said they did normal teenage stuff, like going to the movies.

They would meet up when they were free or during holidays, he said.

“The last show we saw was the latest Pirates of the Caribbeans movie. Nhaveen dropped the popcorn.

“We don’t do crazy things,” he said.

Thana described Nhaveen as a fun, sporting, and hyperactive person.

“He was just a regular guy,” he said.

But Thana, who went to a different school, knew little about Nhaveen’s problems with bullies.

He said only his close friend T. Previin knew about his troubles with bullies.

Previin was with Nhaveen when the assault happened but the former managed to escape to seek help.

“Nhaveen mostly talked about the bullies at his school to Previin. I think that was a mistake,” he added. – June 16, 2017.