Student Sentenced to Nine Years in Prison

The Jakarta Post, page 5

A panel of judges at the Mungkin District Court in Magelang Regency, Central Java, on Friday declared a 16-year-old boy guilty of murdering a fellow student at the prestigious Taruna Nusantara High School and sentenced him to nine years’ imprisonment.

The trial concerned the murder of 15-year-old Krisna Wahyu Nurachmad, who died in the early morning of March 31.

It was presided over by judge Aris Gunawan and was closed to the public as the defendant was underaged.

The boy was not present for the reading of the verdict and was only represented by his team of attorneys, having only appeared briefly in the courtroom accompanied by his parents 10 minutes before the session started. The reading of the verdict was conducted under tight security by both court officers and Magelang Police.

During the trial the defendant showed good manners and also spoke frankly before the judges, Mungkid District Court spokesman Eko Supriyanto said.

Eko said, the aggravating factor against the defendant was that what he did was sadistic and hurt the victim’s family. He had also planned the murder. Meanwhile, the mitigating factors were that the defendant was still young and had a future ahead of him. Also, he had never been involved in a criminal case before.

The defendant had admitted that he killed his dorm mate after Krisna found that he had taken another friend’s money. Moreover, the defendant said he got angry at Krisna for having borrowed his mobile phone and then allowing it to be confiscated by the school administer.

The defendant bought a knife at a supermarket, which he used to stab Krisna in the neck. The murder shocked the elite school as it was the first to have happened there.

Meanwhile, one of the defense attorneys, Sophyan kasim, said that the verdict against his clients was fair. However, He will have further discussions with his family about whether they will file an appeal.