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)