Bus driver may get 15 years<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Government prosecutors demanded yesterday that
\nRamses Silitonga, the driver of a Metro Mini bus that plunged
\ninto a river killing 33 passengers last year, be sentenced to 15
\nyears imprisonment.<\/p>\n
The prosecutors, HPW Soekewi, Haruddin and Chanifuddin
\ntook turns reading the indictment letter before presiding judge
\nSoemarjono at the North Jakarta District Court, Antara reported.<\/p>\n
According to the prosecutors, the defendant knew all along
\nthat driving his overloaded bus at speeds of up to 90 kilometers
\nper hour would endanger his passengers.<\/p>\n
\"Moreover, before the accident occurred many passengers had
\nwarned the defendant to slow down. But he continued speeding
\ndespite screams from passengers that there were children aboard,\"
\nsaid prosecutor Haruddin. \"Even his assistant Pontas Pakpahan
\nalso warned him to stop speeding.\"<\/p>\n
\"There was an intention to murder,\" the prosecutors concluded.<\/p>\n
The prosecutors said Ramses, a bus driver since 1984, was
\nfamiliar with the conditions of the road where the accident took
\nplace. \"Had he listened to the pleas of the passengers by slowing
\ndown, the accident would not have happened,\" the prosecutors
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Another incriminating factor that prompted the prosecutors to
\ndemand the 15-year sentence was the fact that instead of helping
\nhis passengers, he fled the scene to avoid any responsibility.<\/p>\n
Ramses has been accused of recklessly driving his Metromini
\nbus P07 along Jl. Yos Sudarso in North Jakarta on March 6, 1994,
\nbetween 80 and 90 kilometers per hour.<\/p>\n
Ramses, 33, allegedly lost control of the bus, which scraped
\nalong the concrete sidewalk wall before plunging into the heavily
\npolluted Sunter River in North Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Twenty people died at the scene of the accident, 13 died later
\nin hospital and another 13 were injured.<\/p>\n
Ramses evaded the police and went into hiding in North
\nSumatra, his home province. He reportedly changed his name to
\nUcok Sitompul in order to secure employment as a contract worker
\nat a timber mill in Tanjung Mulia village in the Kampung Rakyat
\nsubdistrict, Labuhan regency, North Sumatra, where he was
\ncaptured by police on Aug. 10 last year.<\/p>\n
At one time, there was even a prize tag offered by an
\nanonymous for anyone who could inform the police of his
\nwhereabouts.<\/p>\n
The prosecutors said there were no factors that could have
\ninfluenced them to commute the defendant's sentence.\" Ramses was
\nalso detained once before by police on petty crime charges,\" they
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The trial was adjourned until Monday, April 17, when Ramses'
\nlawyers are scheduled to read their defense statement.<\/p>\n
His trial was marred by controversy with many of the victims
\nfailing to turn up to testify amidst reports that they were
\nintimidated from appearing in the court. (bas)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/bus-driver-may-get-15-years-1447893297",
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