IDNAround – Indonesian prosecutors said on Thursday allegations that slain officer Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat had been involved in a love affair with the wife of former police general Ferdy Sambo, the suspected brain behind his murder, has added some spice to court hearings but won’t distract them from pursuing murder conviction.
Prosecutors have demanded life imprisonment for Ferdy and jail terms between eight and 12 years for four other defendants, including his wife Putri Candrawathi.
Deputy Attorney General Fadil Zumhana said the adultery topic was one of the questions several defendants were asked using the interrogation tool polygraph after Ferdy accused the victim of having raped his wife during a hearing.
Fadil said prosecutors’ focus is on the premeditated murder charges.
“However, there is some spice from the polygraph interrogations … prosecutors are allowed to include a paragraph [from the interrogation] in the sentencing demand although it doesn’t necessarily mean that our indictment is about adultery,” Fadil said.
The sentencing demand made a mention of a love affair as a motive for the killing but Fadil stressed that all the five defendants are being tried for murdering Yosua.
“There is no obligation for us to prove that the adultery did occur. The motive is not a key issue as long as we can establish evidence [of the murder],” Fadil said.
But the father of the victim has a different opinion and demands the death sentence for Ferdy for not showing any remorse after killing his son and attempting to disgrace Yosua’s name.
“My son was murdered, and to add insult to injury, he is now slandered,” Samuel Hutabarat said in an exclusive interview with BTV news channel.
Samuel said that in all hearings, Ferdy was unable to prove his claim that Yosua had raped his wife.
“Love affair? There is no living witness to support that claim either. Show me any evidence,” the angry father said.
Prosecutors ruled out Ferdy’s claim that Yosua had raped his wife because in an interrogation Putri said that she had invited Yosua to her room to say that she forgave him.
“It’s unusual that the victim of sexual violence or rape invited the rapist to meet her in the room where the said sexual violence was committed for a conversation – that lasted about 10 minutes – only to say ‘I forgive you for your cruel conduct to me but I ask you to resign’,” prosecutors told the South Jakarta District Court on Wednesday.
Yosua worked as an assistant for Ferdy before he was murdered on July 8.
Prosecutors have demanded eight years in prison for Putri to raise questions among legal experts.
“Putri is the trigger of all of this,” said Suparji Ahmad from Jakarta-based Al Azhar University. He said prosecutors should have recommended a longer jail term for Putri.
Suspected shooter Richard Eliezer is facing 12 years’ imprisonment for shooting Yosua multiple times on Ferdy’s order.
Two more defendants in the case – Brigadier Ricky Rizal and Ferdy’s personal assistant identified as Kuat Maruf – are recommended to serve eight years in prison for becoming accessories in the crime.
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