5-month prison term sought for sandal thief

5-month prison term sought for sandal thief

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

A prosecutor demanded on Thursday that the Tangerang District
court sentence a worker to five months' imprisonment for stealing
a pair of damaged sandals from PT Osaga's factory warehouse where
he worked last September.

Prosecutor Misbah said the defendant, Hamdani, 25, a resident
of Kosambi Bedeng village of Sepatan district in Tangerang, who
worked for the slipper-producing company on Jl. Raya Mauk 23,
Jatiuwung district, was proved to have stolen the sample pair of
sandals from the factory warehouse on Sept. 4.

According to Misbah, Hamdani stole the sandals from the
warehouse and was caught wearing them by factory security officer
TB Sulandi at the factory's musholla (small mosque).

The prosecutor said the defendant's act had caused a loss of
Rp 25,000 (US$2.5) to the company and he was therefore charged
with violating article 362 of the Criminal Code on theft. The
Article carries a maximum punishment of a 7-year jail term.

However, Hamdani denied all the prosecution's charges, saying
that to steal the company's belongings he would have had to take
company items out of the factory area.

"It was not a sample pair of sandals, but reject ones -- on
account of their damaged condition -- which have often been used
by workers, including factory security officers, for taking
ritual ablutions. I was only using them for the same purpose like
the others and was intending to return them," he said.

Hamdani, who worked in the reject product section of the
factory said such reject pairs of sandals were usually disposed
of as factory waste and therefore he had felt he could use them,
as many other workers had done.

Hundreds of his colleagues from the Karya Utama Labor
Federation (FSKU) protested at the trial and asked the court to
drop the case. But the panel of judges turned a deaf ear to the
demand and continued the trial.

Presiding judge Suprapto postponed the session until next
Thursday when the defense was due to present its case.