Child kidnapper gets a two-year jail term

JAKARTA (JP): Defendant Agus Surya, 42, did not flinch when presiding judge Sri Endang Murwati sentenced him on Tuesday to a mere two years in prison for committing a series of kidnappings over the past nine years.

"The defendant is guilty of violating Article 328 of the Criminal Code on kidnapping," said the judge.

The Article carries a maximum sentence of 12 years in jail.

"The defendant is guilty of kidnapping of at least nine children, aged between seven and 13, who were all from poor families, over the past nine years," Murwati said.

"Since the defendant treated his victims very well, fed them and schooled them, the sentence awarded to him is considerably lighter than the one demanded by the prosecutor."

The sentence was lighter than the three-year jail term demanded by prosecutor Ramdanu Dwiyantoro.

Ramdanu told a previous court hearing that police arrested Agus and his brother Sambudi in mid-January this year.

Sambudi was apprehended at his home in Warengan village in Magelang, Central Java, on Jan. 14. His brother Agus was arrested at the Pulogadung intercity bus terminal in East Jakarta a day after his brother's arrest.

Central Jakarta Police Chief Col. Timur Pradopo said in January that the arrest of the two men was made after Budiman, a missing child, was seen at the Pulogadung terminal on Jan. 8. Budiman, aged nine, was seen selling cigarettes at the terminal by a neighbor of his aunt.

"The neighbor told of his discovery to Leni, an aunt to Budiman, who was kidnapped on Dec. 4 last year," he said.

After taking Budiman home, Leni reported the kidnapping to the police, saying that Budiman, who had been lured off by Agus with candy and Rp 1,000, knew Sambudi's home in Magelang.

"With the help of Budiman, our detectives finally arrested Sambudi in Magelang," Timor said.

Police have found seven of the nine children and have returned them to their parents.

Besides Budiman, the six children were identified as Kusnadi, Yudhi, Taufik, Nina, Andry and Gerry Englebert Purba.

The whereabouts of the remaining two children, Ari and Dede, are still unknown.

None of the seven children had anything bad to say about their kidnappers.

Gerry recalled how he was picked up at the Grand Cinema in Senen, Central Jakarta, while he was playing a pinball machine on Nov. 30, 1997.

"Agus picked me up. He took me somewhere, I don't know where. He gave me a bicycle to ride, then we played many games together, including shooting. Then he took me to the Pulogadung terminal," Gerry said.

Since then, he said, Agus asked him to help sell cigarettes at the terminal so that they could make enough money to go to Magelang.

"In Magelang, I met Pak Sambudi. He is a farmer. He said that I could help him sometimes to grow fruit and rice. He was really good to me. He gave me a good bed, he sent me to school, gave me clothes and never woke me up early in the morning." (ylt)