Maid may get three years in prison for baby's death
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
Prosecutors proposed on Tuesday a three-year jail term against an unmarried maid who has been charged with negligence in the death of her newborn baby boy at her employer's house.
Prosecutor Demitry told the Tangerang District Court that the defendant, Suparni, 23, should be proven guilty to not properly caring for the baby boy which died sometime on March 24.
"The defendant violated Article 341 of the Criminal Code on death caused by negligence of one's own child due to her apparent fear of getting caught having a child," he told the hearing that was presided over by Judge Maha Nikmah.
The sentence demand is more lenient than the maximum of seven years in prison as stipulated by the article.
The prosecutors admitted they failed to secure the main charge of premeditated murder of a baby which, if found guilty, the defendant could be punished by a maximum of nine years imprisonment.
Suparni was arrested on March 27, following a report filed by her employer.
According to the prosecutor, the employer smelled something foul coming from inside his house, so he looked around for the source and noticed that a ceiling section in the house was ajar.
The employer questioned Suparni, who confessed that she put the body of her dead baby there because she didn't know what to do with it.
In her deposition to the police, according to the prosecutors, Suparni said she gave birth on March 24 when the employer was out of town and without anyone's assistance. She claimed that the newborn died soon afterwards due to her absence of knowledge of how to take care of it.
She later wrapped the baby in a blanket and put it in a plastic bag and stored it in a cupboard in her bedroom. The next day, she bathed it and covered the body with soil and put it in a plastic bag inside the ceiling.
"I had sex with the brother of my former employer in Purwokerto, Central Java," she told The Jakarta Post.
Claiming she was raped, Suparni said she moved to Jakarta three months later and began working for her current employer.
"I did not kill my baby. If I wanted to I would have had an abortion. Moreover, the man who impregnated me did not know anything about the pregnancy," she added.
Her lawyer Lis Astuti of the Assocation of Indonesian Women for Justice-Legal Aid Institute (LBH APIK) said Suparni is a victim of violence against women.
The court adjourned the hearing until Nov. 13 to hear the defense.