Murder suspect makes final plea

JAKARTA (JP): Defense teams made their last attempts yesterday to convince the East Jakarta District court that suspects charged with the murder of a family last year are innocent.

The teams of lawyers defending Philipus, his wife Suparmi and their son and nephews told the court that their clients did not murder the wife and children of Rohadi.

Rohadi's wife and three children were found dead of stab wounds in their home in Bambu Apus subdistrict, East Jakarta, on Oct. 2. The victims and the defendants were neighbors.

In each of the three separate trial sessions yesterday, the defense lawyers demanded that Philipus, Suparmi and the youths be exonerated of all charges.

Prosecutors want Philipus and Suparmi to get death penalties, and their sons and nephew to get 18 years imprisonment each for the offenses.

Philipus, the main suspect, read his final defense at the East Jakarta district court yesterday, persisting in asserting his innocence.

"Let me remind you, team of prosecutors, that you will be making the biggest mistake of your life in requesting my death," he said.

Philipus added that he will hold to his declaration of innocence until the end of his life.

Philipus' team of lawyers lamented the fact that the public had assumed that Philipus and his family were guilty of murdering Rohadi's family even before the trail began.

"Public opinion has been shaped in such ways that people are not willing to even consider the possibility that Philipus' family may have not killed the Rohadi family," lawyer Hoiriah Irsyadi said.

Hoiriah added that prior to the court hearing, the team of lawyers had asked the opinion of the popular paranormal Permadi, who seemed to believe that the facts upon which the indictment was based had been manipulated.

In the two other separate hearings, the teams of lawyers demanded that defendants Suparmi and the three minors be freed of all charges because there was no direct evidence of their involvement in the killings.

The court rulings will be announced on June 6. (14)