Six minors tried for killing student

JAKARTA (JP): Six junior high school students were indicted at a closed-to-public trial at the Central Jakarta District Court yesterday, charged with mobbing a senior high school student to death.

Prosecutor M. Roskanedi said the defendants, aged between 15 and 18, were charged under Article 170 of the Criminal Code which has a maximum penalty of 12 years in jail.

The youths standing trial were identified as Andi Burhanuddin alias Boang, Cipta Wahyudi, Gidion Oktavianus Silitonga, Novaya Zemlya Valentino, Avin Libert Ariganda Siagian and Muhamad Taufik Hidayat.

According to presiding judge Sumantri, the trial was closed to the public since most of the defendants are minors.

Prosecutor Roskanedi said the defendants, along with some of their classmates, were on the way home in a truck after attending a farewell party at a private junior high school on Jl. Prapatan in Central Jakarta.

The victim, identified as Sawaludin, and his colleagues suddenly started throwing stones at the defendants' group on the truck without any clear reason, said the prosecutor.

When the truck stopped at a nearby traffic light, the students got down and chased their attackers, he said.

"The victim's friends managed to escape but Sawaludin was surrounded by the junior high school students," he said.

The prosecutor said Wahyudi beat Sawaludin with a shovel, Valentino hit him with a wooden stick, and Gidion struck out with a steel bar.

Roskanedi said the victim was then stabbed by Boang with a samurai sword before Libert and Taufik hit Sawaludin with bricks.

The victim died on the spot, he said.

The postmortem examination result from the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital stated that the cause of death was serious bleeding, he said.

Presiding judge Abas Sumantri adjourned the trial until next week to hear the defendants' lawyer's statement.

At the beginning of this month, the same court sentenced a senior high school student and six other students to between four years and two years in jail respectively for their involvement in mobbing another student to death.

At least nine students have been killed in separate brawls in the city this year. (jun)