Convicted triple murderer asks for forgiveness

Convicted triple murderer asks for forgiveness

JAKARTA (JP): A convicted triple murderer facing imminent
execution asked for forgiveness yesterday from the relatives of
his victims and urged the authorities to allow him to donate his
organs.

"I would like to apologize for the distress that I have caused
the relatives of the victims," Karta Cahyadi said during a
meeting with Attorney General Singgih.

"I am so sorry that I killed the three people. I'm still
related to two of them," he said during the meeting at the
Cipinang penitentiary.

The meeting was held at his request and was open to the press.

Karta Cahyadi, alias Yongki, 35 years old, has exhausted all
legal channels for reprieve. The last resort, an appeal for
presidential clemency, was turned down on March 27.

Yongki, a resident of Jakarta, was sentenced to death by the
district court in Surakarta, Central Java, in 1990 for the brutal
murder of three people in a house which he was robbing.

The house belonged to Utomo Kasidi, a distant relative of his.
The victims were Utomo's 11-year old son Danny; Utomo's brother,
40-year old Sasongko Suryo; and a 23-year old housemaid, Lasiyem.

Yongki's accomplice, Tugiman, also received a death sentence
and is still waiting for a reply from the president to his
request for clemency.

According to the court testimony, Sasongko was electrocuted by
Yongki, while Danny and Lasiyem were stabbed to death. The court
found that Lasiyem had been beaten prior to being killed.

The convicted men made off with some valuables they had found
in the house, including Utomo's car. The total loot was estimated
to have been worth about Rp 40 million (US$18,000).

Attorney General Singgih said he came to the penitentiary
yesterday in response to a letter he had received from Yongki,
asking to discuss some of his last requests. He was accompanied
by the head of the Jakarta prosecutor's office, Soeyoto; head of
the Jakarta office of the Ministry of Justice, Muhammad Boer
Alamsyah; and assistant for general crimes at the Jakarta
prosecutor's office, Adnan Kasian.

Soeyoto told reporters earlier said that Yongki's execution
would be soon, but he declined to give an exact date.

Request

Although he was convicted in Surakarta, the government has
agreed to Yongki's request that he be executed in Jakarta.

Yongki, who has been kept in Block IV A of the penitentiary,
reiterated yesterday his long-standing request that all of his
organs be donated to whomever needs them.

"I would like to donate my organs because they are all in
normal condition," he said. "I want my organs to be of use to
those in need."

He also asked to have an opportunity to see his spiritual
advisor before dying.

Singgih said the condemned man's request to become an organ
donor would be considered. He said he knew that Yongki's corneas
would be acceptable, at least from a medical point of view.

Yongki, the sixth of 12 children, said his parents and his
wife had earlier paid him a visit.

He said he was still listed as a fifth semester student at the
School of Economics at Jayabaya University in Jakarta.

Indonesia has already executed two men this year. The first
was a Malaysian who was convicted of drug trafficking in Jakarta
and the second was a retired Army sergeant who was convicted for
murdering an entire family in North Sulawesi in 1985.

Separately, Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman defended capital
punishment in Indonesia yesterday.

Speaking after opening a two-day conference of the Association
of Indonesian Court Secretaries, Oetojo added that the death
penalty was to be applied in selected cases only. (imn)