Man may get 12 years for killing thug

Man may get 12 years for killing thug

JAKARTA (JP): A prosecutor demanded yesterday that the Central
Jakarta District Court sentence a man to 12 years in jail for
beating up an alleged hoodlum who died of his injuries.

Prosecutor Rudy Yulianto said the defendant, Waimin alias
Sunarto, 27, bludgeoned the victim, identified as M. Faisal alias
Soni, with a concrete block under the Pejompongan flyover, in
Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta on the morning of Dec. 23, 1995.

Rudy said the defendant killed Soni, who was known as a
hoodlum in the area, because the victim had often extorted money
from him.

He said Soni, who was attacked while sleeping under the
flyover, was repeatedly beaten in the head by the defendant. Two
men, identified as Ujang and Subianto Jusuf, witnessed the attack
from about 5 meters away.

The defendant, a bus conductor, escaped on a public bus,
leaving the victim lying on the ground, Rudy said.

Residents, including the two witnesses, rushed the victim to
the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital where he died three days
later.

Rudy said police arrested Waimin on Jl. Senopati in South
Jakarta on March 3.

He said the defendant was charged under Article 338 of the
Criminal Code.

Waimin urged the court yesterday to present the two witnesses
because the prosecutor had only read the witnesses' statements
from the police dossier.

"I didn't kill Soni. I want the court to bring the two
witnesses here," he said.

The defendant said that he was forced to admit to the crime by
police, adding that officers had shot him in his right leg to
make him confess.

Rudy replied that there was no need to bring the two witnesses
to the court because they had been sworn in as stated in the
dossier.

Presiding judge Madnyono adjourned the trial until next week
to hear a plea from Waimin's lawyer, Esther I. Jusuf from the
Jakarta Legal Aid Institute. (jun)