Goenadi may get 15 years for beheading doctor
JAKARTA (JP): The prosecutor in the case of the decapitated doctor wants the North Jakarta District Court to reject the defense statement and sentence the accused to 15 years in prison.
Prosecutor Omsin Subarkah said in a trial session over the weekend that Alamsyah Hanafiah, the lawyer of accused killer Goenadi Tjahyo Wargo, was mistaken when he charged that the prosecution has failed to present the court proof of the defendant's guilt.
Goenadi, who is said to have supernatural powers, allegedly beheaded Dr. Riyama Yawoga in her bedroom on Jan. 14 at the request of the doctor's clandestine lover, Ridwan Suryadanu. The lover allegedly promised to pay the accused Rp 120 million if he could accomplish the murder.
Prosecutor Omsin earlier asked that the same court sentence Ridwan, who is being tried in separate sessions, to 10 years imprisonment and Goenadi to 15 years.
Eighteen witnesses, including several police officers, have testified in Goenadi's trial.
"It was he (Goenadi) who approved the witnesses' testimonies and it was also the defendant who admitted that he had received Rp 120 million from Ridwan after committing the murder," prosecutor Omsin said.
Bad preparation
The prosecutor pointed out that Ridwan gave the Rp 120 million money to Goenadi without properly documenting the transferal of funds and without requiring collateral.
Goenadi received money from Ridwan twice. He first received Rp 20 million on Dec. 21 last year, and then got Rp 100 million on Jan. 15, the day after Doctor Riyama was found dead at her home.
"The sequence of events between the murder of the victim and the handover of the bulk of the money justifies the assumption that the defendant did not borrow the money from Ridwan as alleged, but proves that he took the money in payment for a service," the prosecutor charged.
Responding to Goenadi's retraction of all of his confessions in previous court sessions, Omsin said that the defendant's maneuver lacked legal grounds because the facts presented by police indicate the opposite.
"Has the defendant's lawyer forgotten that police found the defendant's finger prints at the scene of the crime, and that his slippers were stained with the victim's blood?" Prosecutor Omsin asked.
The prosecutor reminded the court that during one of the trial sessions, the defendant even corrected officer Mulyanto's testimony, saying that he did not slash at Riyama's neck, but pulled the knife across her throat, almost severing the head from the body.
In his closing statement prosecutor Omsin said that he refused to back down from his previous demand that the court sentence Goenadi to 15 years imprisonment.
Presiding Judge Surti Hari Pramono adjourned the trial session until Aug. 31, when the defendant's lawyer is scheduled to reply to the prosecutor's statements. (03)