Murder suspect avows his innocence<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The prime suspect in the Bambu Apus murders said
\nyesterday he would prefer to die rather than be punished for
\nsomething he had not done.<\/p>\n
\"I ask you God to mete out the death penalty to me in this
\ncourt or seven generations of suffering for my offspring,\"
\nPhilipus read out at the East Jakarta district court.<\/p>\n
If his claim of innocence were true, he said, let the death
\npunishment and the prolonged sufferings befall the prosecutor who
\nhad done terrible things to him.<\/p>\n
\"Truly, I did not murder the Rohadis,\" Philipus read out the
\ndefense statement he wrote.<\/p>\n
A woman and her three children were murdered in their home in
\nthe Bambu Apus subdistrict of East Jakarta on Oct. 2, 1995. Five
\nsuspects have been detained and processed in three separate
\ntrials.<\/p>\n
Last Monday, prosecutors demanded that Philipus and his wife
\nSuparmi be sentenced to death. Eighteen years were demanded for
\nthe other three who are minors.<\/p>\n
According to Philipus, the court and prosecutor have not given
\nhim a fair chance given the circumstances under which he and his
\nfamily were detained by the police.<\/p>\n
\"I told the court that I was tortured, but has the court cared
\nto take a look at my scars?\" Philipus questioned.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Philipus' lawyers demanded that Philipus be
\nacquitted of all charges because none of the witnesses presented
\nbefore the court witnessed Philipus committing the murder.<\/p>\n
\"The whole process of acquiring and gathering evidence until
\ninvestigation was filled with human rights violations,\" lawyer
\nO.C. Kaligis said.<\/p>\n
A total of five lawyers took turns to read the 187-page
\ndefense statement which lasted more than four hours.<\/p>\n
They cited a number of things including the minors' alibis at
\nthe time of the murders and the police's alleged conspiracy to
\nforce Suparmi and her niece, Susannah, to sign a letter requiring
\npolice protection.<\/p>\n
The minors, Albertus and Clemens, claim they were in school
\nwhen the murders took place, the lawyers said, and this was
\nconfirmed by their school headmasters.<\/p>\n
Regarding the letter signed by Suparmi and her niece Susannah
\nasking for police protection, the lawyers said that the letter
\nwas written by the police themselves.<\/p>\n
\"How could a lowly-educated woman compose such a well-written
\nletter?\" the lawyers asked.<\/p>\n
The lawyers also said that no blood was found around Philipus'
\nhouse before Oct. 4. Between Oct. 2 and Oct. 4 the rainfall was
\nheavy around Philipus's house and if there had been away blood it
\nwould have been washed away, the lawyers said.<\/p>\n
Philipus said his long knife which the police claimed was used
\nin the murder had been borrowed by police personnel on Oct. 3,
\nwith no traces of blood. It was then returned and confiscated a
\nday later without Philipus' knowledge.<\/p>\n
The lawyers pointed out that the defendant had been robbed of
\nhis rights as a citizen when his house was ransacked by the
\nmasses and his property looted.<\/p>\n
The hearing was mostly attended by Philipus' relatives which
\nwas apparent from the cheers when Philipus' claim of innocent was
\nread.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor's response will be heard on Friday. (14)<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/murder-suspect-avows-his-innocence-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }