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Jakarta International School teachers acquitted of child sex charges
Sydney Morning Herald - August 14, 2015
The verdict from Jakarta High Court – overturning an earlier guilty finding – was confirmed on Friday, prompting jubilation from supporters of Canadian teacher Neil Bantleman and an Indonesian teacher's aide Ferdinand Tjiong.
"Yes, I have the decision. It is confirmed," the men's lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea told Fairfax Media on Friday. "We are waiting now for the documents from the public prosecutors so we can release them from jail today."
?The pair were convicted in April of sexually molesting three preschool age children last year. Both men were sentenced to 10 years in prison for the alleged attacks in an administrative building and kitchen at the Jakarta Intercultural School, a campus of the renowned Jakarta International School.
Their convictions followed the earlier guilty findings against five cleaners from the school for raping the same children. Four of the cleaners made confessions but then retracted them, saying they were tortured by police. A sixth accused cleaner died in police custody.
The case has gripped Jakarta's expatriate community, where the school – founded by the US, Australian and British embassies – plays a central role. While parents were horrified by the allegations at first, they became concerned over time that the sex abuse claims were untrue.
Bizarre allegations of magic stones and blue water, medical evidence that suggested no abuse had taken place and other wildly contradictory testimony in the original court proceeding all raised concerns of an injustice.
In their judgment in the original trial, judges noted favourably testimony from an Indonesian sexologist Dr Naek L. Tobing suggesting that Mr Bantleman was inclined towards paedophilia because he did not masturbate and only had sex with his wife once a week, when the "norm" was for two to three times a week.
"There is a question how could he release his sexual desire," said Chief Judge Nur Aslam Bustaman. "These conditions could create abnormal sexual behaviour."
Concerns of an elaborate fabrication were compounded when the parents of one of the children hired lawyer O. C. Kaligis, now detained on unrelated corruption charges, to press for civil damages of $US125 million.
That case was rejected earlier this week on a technicality, although the judges noted in their judgment that the parents had not proven that the abuse had taken place.
Mr Hotman – the flamboyant lawyer famous for representing Schapelle Corby and his fleet of expensive sports cars – said he had taken on the case pro bono as he felt a grave injustice had been done.
"It's a totally fabricated and bulls – - case," he said. "This is not over. I will chase the parents and the others and make them pay."
Mr Hotman alleges the parents targeted the teachers when they realised the cleaners were contract workers.
"The cleaners were not JIS employees and under Indonesian law. That means JIS could not be sued for their alleged conduct. That's why they went after the teachers."
Prosecutors, meanwhile, signalled they would challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court.
[Disclosure: The author's children went to the Jakarta International School from 2008 to 2012.]
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