Security guard sentenced to life four murders
JAKARTA (JP): A security guard found guilty yesterday of murdering a woman and three children has been sentenced to life imprisonment.
"We find that you are guilty of the crime and therefore sentence you to life," judge Soenarto told Philipus Kia Ledjab, 47, at the East Jakarta district court.
In an earlier session, prosecutors had demanded that Philipus be sentenced to death.
A tense-faced Philipus clapped his hands and timidly glanced around the hot, crowded and stuffy courtroom upon hearing the verdict as camera flashes seemed to temporarily blind him.
Relatives of Rohadi, who was teaching while his wife and three children were attacked, screamed and cursed the judges upon hearing what they perceived as an unfair punishment.
"We lost four lives and damn it, you are only sentenced to life," a woman relative screamed at Philipus.
Eli Kusneli and her three children was murdered in their home in the Bambu Apus subdistrict of East Jakarta on Oct. 2 last year.
Five suspects including Philipus' wife, Suparmi, and three minors, Albertus, 16, Lambertus, 15, and Clemence, 12, have been tried in separate hearings since January 31.
In a separate hearing, Suparmi, 41, was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by a team of judges led by Tojib Madretis.
The three minors were each sentenced to eight years at the Tangerang Rehabilitation center in East Java.
Three judges took turns reading the 224-page verdict on Philipus.
Uproar in the public gallery following the court's ruling temporarily interrupted the reading near the end of the six-and-a-half-hour session .
The court descended into chaos as the final verdict was announced. Hysterical screams from the audience filled the room as security officers and the crowd jostled and shuffled.
The murder was so shocking that it attracted wide media coverage with some people charging the case had been tried by the press.
But the team of judges said the coverage had not influenced them.
"Our decision is not influenced by public opinion although we are attentive to the public's sense of what is justice," judge Soenarto told reporters after the session.
Rohadi said that he trusted the legal apparatus to uphold justice.
"Since the beginning I have surrendered the judgment to God Almighty," Rohadi said.
The judges and the lawyers immediately left the court room as the crowd, apparently disappointed by the verdict, cursed them.
Prosecutors and lawyers in Suparmi's hearing told the court that they would be considering whether to appeal within the next week.
"We'll appeal as soon as we have discussed this option with our client," lawyer Dewi Yuliani said.
According to Dewi, there are many factors that were not considered by the team of judges in their verdict.
Judge Kamar Sembiring, told The Jakarta Post that Suparmi's involvement in the crime is the main determinant in her case.
"She only held down the victims, and did not stab them to death. The victim would have died regardless of her participation in the conspiracy," Kamar said.
The minors' lawyer Risma Situmorang, who asked for an appeal, perceived the team of judges' had many uncertainties, as was apparent in their verdict.
"They would have sentenced the minors to the maximum 15-year if they were convinced about our clients' wrongdoings," Risma told the Post.
Farida Achmad who led the team of judges for the minors said judges' decision was based on the desire to improve the children's future.
"Our sentence was not based on vengeance or punishment per se but was well-intentioned," Farida told the Post.
Many visitors were taken aback when they saw the three minors in person.
"I doubt that they are capable of committing such violence, it would be great if they are not punished," a woman said before the verdicts were announced.
Meanwhile, noted lawyer, O.C. Kaligis, who chaired both teams of lawyers for Philipus and the minors, said that he will continue to assert his client's innocence in the Supreme Court.
"They must be proclaimed not guilty," Kaligis told the Post. (14)