13-year prison term for sergeant's killers
13-year prison term for sergeant's killers
JAKARTA (JP): The East Jakarta district court Saturday
sentenced Arnold Mamusung and Boy Herowantana to 13 years
imprisonment each for killing Police Sgt. Bambang Sumarno in
August last year.
"What made your action unpardonable is that what you have done
is very inhumane, and that the victim was on duty at the time of
the murder," Presiding Judge Achmad Husin said, stressing that
the defendants had committed the action consciously.
The judge took into consideration the defendants' good conduct
during the trial and the facts they had not been jailed
previously and are still young.
Both Arnold and Boy bent their heads as the presiding judge
began to read the verdict.
The defendants sat upright only after the judge told them they
would have to do so before the sentence was pronounced.
Prosecutor I Made A. Ardjana had previously demanded the court
sentence Arnold, alias Nano, to a 17-year prison term and Boy to
18 years. Boy's offense was considered greater because he had
taken the police officers' gun from him.
The sentences are three years lower than that passed down by
the same court to Iman Alamin, who was tried separately, and
sentenced to 16 years in jail for his role in the murder and the
theft of the victim's gun along with its ammunition.
Last Aug. 26, Sgt. Bambang was killed by the three men in an
empty house at Jl. Kayu Putih Tengah II-D No. 2, Central Jakarta.
The house belongs to Alamin's parents.
According to the verdict, the three then took the sergeant's
body to a rubber plantation in Cianjur, West Java, and set fire
to it to conceal the deceased's identity.
The prosecutor said the defendants' motive for the killing was
to seize Sgt. Bambang's gun, but the court exonerated the three
from those charges because there was not enough evidence to
support the assertion.
At the previous sessions, all the convicts denied written
testimonies they made before the police saying that they had been
beaten before the questioning to force their confessions. Police
denied they tortured the defendants.
To support their torture claim, the three presented before
the court pictures of their swollen faces published by a Jakarta-
based newspaper.
After announcing the sentence, the presiding judge asked if
the prosecutor or the defendants planned to appeal to the high
court.
Both Boy's and Nano lawyer said they were still considering
whether to appeal.
"I should consult with my client first before I make any
decision on this matter," Boy's lawyer later told the Jakarta
Post
Prosecutor Ardjana was also considering appealing the
sentences, which he felt should have been harsher. (11)