Tommy has toothache, fails to appear in court
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A toothache was the latest reason advanced by Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra to avoid testifying in the murder trial of his accomplice at the South Jakarta District Court on Thursday.
The court was scheduled to hear Tommy's testimony in the trial of Dody Hardjito, who has been Tommy's friend since 1976.
Dody is charged with involvement in the July 26, 2001, murder of Supreme Court Justice M. Syafiuddin Kartasasmita, who was a member of the panel of judges that sentenced Tommy to 18 months in jail for graft.
Tommy, according to the indictment, ordered Dody to hire two hitmen to assassinate Syafiuddin.
It was the fourth time the flamboyant billionaire failed to testify.
Chief prosecutor Ismanto presented a letter from Dr. Manan D. of Cipinang penitentiary in East Jakarta, explaining that Tommy was suffering from "acute toothache that was interfering with his concentration."
Presiding Judge Tusani Djafri acknowledged that Tommy was an "important" witness.
He also admitted that the court had the power to compel Tommy to appear before the court. But, he said, the court would not do so as the trial was running out of time. Dody must be released from detention early in May.
Dody has been under detention since Aug. 6, 2001. The Criminal Procedures Code stipulates that if a defendant has been detained for 200 days and the court has yet to reach a verdict, the defendant is automatically freed by operation of law.
Usually, if a witness is absent, the court would order the prosecutor to read the testimony contained in the case file.
But Tommy has never been questioned as a witness in Dody's case because he was on the run when the police interrogated Dody.
The panel of judges decided to summon Tommy, who was arrested in November 2001 after being in hiding for one year, as an additional witness because the court considered his testimony important.
On April 3, when Tommy failed to appear in Dody's trial for the first time, Ismanto said it was for security reasons as the police had not responded to the prosecutors' request to guard Tommy during the trial and on the way from the penitentiary to the courthouse. But there was no explanation why Tommy failed to answer the second summons.
Tommy failed to appear for the third time as the prosecutors had failed to obtain the consent of the Central Jakarta District Court. Such consent was needed as Tommy is currently being tried by that court.
Prosecutors gave their support to the judges' decision not to compel Tommy to appear.
Prosecutor Ismanto told The Jakarta Post that it was not necessary for Tommy to testify against Dody as the court had heard sufficient testimony from the 36 witnesses called so far.
Dody's lawyer, Erman Umar, also urged the panel of judges not to require Tommy's testimony. He also asked the judges to speed up the trial process. He reminded the court that Dody would be automatically freed should the court fail to deliver its verdict before Dody's detention term came to an end in May.
Usually, lawyers would attempt to prolong the legal process so as to buy time in order to enable their client to leave detention.
During his examination, Dody admitted to having rented a house on Jl. Alam Segar, Pondok Indah, at Tommy's request. Tommy used the house as a hideout and stored firearms there, Dody said. But he denied receiving any order to hire hitmen to kill Syafiuddin.