Faith healer turned killer gets 16 years in jail
Faith healer turned killer gets 16 years in jail
JAKARTA (JP): Fichri Richard Datulong, 22, sat quiet on Monday
as a judge sentenced him to 16 years in jail for strangling and
bludgeoning a hotel manager and his wife to death at their home
in Utan Kayu, East Jakarta, in November last year.
"The defendant is guilty of violating Article 340 of the
Criminal Code on premeditated murder," presiding judge Nachrowi
told the East Jakarta District Court.
"His youthfulness saved him from getting a 20-year jail term,
or even a death sentence," he said.
Article 340 carries a maximum punishment of death or 20 years
behind bars.
The verdict was lighter than the maximum jail term demanded by
prosecutor Taufik.
Frichri, who was paid Rp 30 million (US$3500) for murdering
the couple, did not ask for an appeal and showed no emotion.
His accomplices, Harsyad Bello, 29, and James Maramis, 19,
each received 15 years in jail in an earlier hearing at the
district court for their part in the premeditated murders.
When he was arrested, Fichri told police officers he and his
friends had been offered Rp 30 million from a relative of the
victim to kill Konstantin Akbar, the manager of Hotel Grand
Menteng in East Jakarta, and his wife, Umi Kalsum.
"We made a plan on Nov. 12 (1999) at a bookstore in Central
Jakarta," Fichri said.
Konstantin, 52, and Umi, 44, were found dead in the living
room of their house on Nov. 15.
Fichri, who was the victims' faith healer, was later arrested
at a hotel in Bekasi.
Police had earlier apprehended two other suspects, Harsyad and
James, who told them of Fichri's whereabouts.
During a reenactment of the murder, Fichri said he did not
feel like killing the couple and was only trying to drive away
evil spirits that possessed them.
"I wrapped his (Konstantin's) face and body in a sarong, while
Harsyad and James held Umi down, because she also showed similar
signs of being possessed," he told police.
The three men then hit the back of the victims' heads with a
gypsum-filled ornament and a three-kilogram dumbbell found in the
house.
Knowing that the couple was still alive, they then stranglgd
them with a plastic cord they brought with them.
After knowing the couple for about a year, Fichri became their
faith healer after he told them that someone had cast a spell on
Umi, making her feel weak and unable to sleep.
Police found the victims' stolen car at the hotel in Bekasi.
Police also seized Rp 100,000 in cash and three gold bracelets
stolen from the bedroom of the murdered couple's daughter. (ylt)