Seven years in jail sought for cannibal

Seven years in jail sought for cannibal

PURBALINGGA, Central Java: Prosecutors asked Purbalingga court, Central Java, on Friday to sentence a man, who admitted to eating human flesh, to seven years in jail.

SCTV reported that the defendant, Sumanto, objected to the prosecutor's demand, saying that the corpses, parts of which he had eaten, had been abandoned by their families.

Thirty-one-year-old Sumanto was charged with theft due to the absence of legislation on cannibalism.

Police arrested him in January after he stole the body of 80- year-old Rina and ate part of it. He later admitted to having eaten parts of two men who attempted to rob him on separate occasions. No murder charges, however, were laid against him. -- JP