Gang rape verdict to be read on March 25

Gang rape verdict to be read on March 25

JAKARTA (JP): The fate of the 11 defendants being tried at the Bekasi District Court on charges of gang rape and robbery will be decided on March 25, presiding judge Pieter Poerba said in one of three separate hearings yesterday.

The 15 defense lawyers are still adamant that all the defendants are innocent and that the police arrested the wrong people. But the prosecutors insisted that they should be sentenced 12 to 16 years imprisonment.

The defendants, aged between 17 and 23, are accused of raping a mother and her two daughters and stealing their jewelry in July last year in Cimatis, Bekasi, 30 km southeast of the city in an incident that incited public outcry.

The court also turned down a request from the defense lawyers yesterday that another session be opened to hear the testimony of Amin, a prisoner in Bulak Kapal jail, who the defendants claimed knows everything about the crime.

"According to the law, a judge is obliged to hear the request by defendants and lawyers to present any witness," lawyer Christian Raharjaan said.

"Amin has nothing to do with the case even if presenting him is correct according to the law," Poerba countered. He added that the decision was also made because the lawyers had said in earlier sessions that they had presented enough witnesses.

Yesterday's redress by the defense lawyers also countered the prosecutors' statement of last week that the suspects were not coerced into putting their signatures on the dossiers.

"The prosecutors cannot prove when and where the suspects signed the dossiers," lawyer Masruri said.

He said that as the suspects were interrogated in different places prosecutor Syaman Ritonga would have found it difficult to accompany them. (03)