A guard sentenced 20 months for murder

The East Jakarta District Court has sentenced Kasmari, 40, a security guard of PT Surya Agung Makmur Lestari, to 20 months imprisonment for killing an employee of the company and injuring several others.

Presiding Judge Thomas Sumardi said on Wednesday that the court found Kasmari guilty beyond any reasonable doubt of killing Husein, a driver of the chemical company, and seriously injuring the others.

The sentence is four months lighter than the prosecutor's request.

The court said Kasmari, who was on duty at the time, interrogated Husein and friends on July 4 at the factory in an effort to locate the person responsible for the loss of documents from one of the factory's trucks.

A soothsayer advised the security guard to ask the employees to drink a glass of water before the interrogation, saying that those who were responsible could be expected to confess their guilt or would suffer a swollen stomach if they persisted in lying.

But the drivers, who denied responsibility for the loss, remained healthy after drinking the water.

Frustrated, Kasmari then brutally attacked the employees one by one with a knife, killing Husein and seriously wounding others. (has)