Irregulaties mean rape suspect must be freed: Lawyers

JAKARTA (JP): Lawyers for a 61-year-old scavenger urged the East Jakarta District Court yesterday to acquit their client of charges of raping 12 young boys, citing several irregularities in the case's preparation.

The defendant's legal team, headed by Januarius F.L. Gaol, said the man did not have the benefit of legal counsel until the first sitting day of the court case.

The defendant was not accompanied by a lawyer when he was interrogated by the police and state prosecutors, Gaol told reporters after the hearing.

"This makes the dossier defective," he said, adding that under the Criminal Code Procedures, a person must be accompanied by a lawyer from the moment he becomes a suspect.

The defendant, a resident of Pondok Gede, Bekasi, is accused of raping 12 street children -- aged between 11 and 16 years, some of whom are orphans -- who wandered in the Jatinegara district in East Jakarta between January 1994 and July 1996.

He was arrested at the peak of a police investigation last August into a series of sadistic murders, whose young victims bore marks of having been raped. Police have arrested the murder suspect, a fellow scavenger and an acquaintance of the defendant.

Yesterday's hearing was held behind closed doors, but the judge ruled that the lawyers' defense statement can be reported.

In arguing for a dismissal, the lawyers said the court does not have the jurisdiction to try the case.

They said the defendant should be tried before the district court in his home township of Bekasi.

The prosecutor had chosen the East Jakarta District Court because all 12 victims were residents of the mayoralty.

Defense lawyers, however, pointed out that since the victims were street children, their place of residence was not clear.

The defendant's lawyers pleaded for the court to ensure a fair hearing for their client if the trial continues.

They reminded the court that a poor man like their client -- who ekes a living as a scavenger and selling second-hand clothes -- has rights, like other citizens, and these should be respected.

The suspect is charged under Article 289 of the Criminal Code, relating to obscene acts conducted with force. If found guilty, he faces a maximum sentence of nine years imprisonment.

The man has also been charged under Article 292, which states that anyone caught sexually abusing a minor of the same sex will face a maximum penalty of five years in jail.

The suspect was arrested after several boys, who claimed they had been raped, reported him to the police.

Judge Kamar Sembiring adjourned the trial until next Wednesday to hear the prosecutor's response. (16)