Partners in crime receive life, 15 years in prison
Partners in crime receive life, 15 years in prison
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
Tangerang District Court sentenced on Thursday Yoseph Ndaaba, 35,
a citizen of Lesotho in southern Africa to life imprisonment and
fined him Rp 50 million (US$5,882) for possession of 250 grams of
heroin.
The same panel of judges at the court also handed down a 15-
year sentence and Rp 5 million fine to Indonesian Melani Taurisia
Setiyati, 31.
The defendants said they would allow their lawyers Siti
Sibarani and Restu Widiyastuti, to decide whether to appeal.
The prison term for Ndaaba was the same as that demanded by
prosecutor Puji Rahardjo. However, the fine was lower than the
demanded Rp 100 million.
Judge Sitorus said two mitigating factors that lowered the
sentences for them (the maximum is death) were that they had
apologized to all Indonesian citizens for their transgressions
and that they had no previous police record.
He also named several incriminating factors: dishonest
testimonies, ignoring the Indonesian government's no-drug
campaign and that they were assisting in the destruction of the
country's youth.
The prosecutor charged them with violating Article 82 of Law
No. 22/1997 on drugs and Articles 55 and 64 of the Criminal Code
on organized crimes.
Both carry a maximum penalty of death.
Since 2000, the court has handed down 24 death sentences to
drug smugglers, however, none of them have been executed, and at
least 4 have had their sentences reduced to life by the Supreme
Court.
Melani was arrested by the Tangerang Police at her house in
Pamulang on June 11, 2003, following a tip off from her neighbors
who suspected that she had frequently been involved in drug
transactions at her home.
The police seized 250 grams of heroin from her. She later
admitted that the drugs belonged to Ndaaba. Police searched for
Ndaaba and later arrested him at a restaurant near the Sarinah
department store on Jl. Thamrin, Central Jakarta, on June 12.
Melani told the police that she first received 500 grams of
heroin from Ndaaba at the Cibitung toll gate in April 2003 and
received another 500 grams at Plaza Bintaro in June. The 250
grams seized from her was what was left after selling at least
750 grams of heroin to local junkies in a 2-month span.
Ndaaba, who claimed he was a student in Lesotho and in
Indonesia as a tourist, arranged the drug transactions with the
customers by himself, while Melani was his courier. She took the
heroin from Ndaaba and gave it to their regular customers, who
had already placed orders.