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strong>Aug. 26, p9

The trial of a janitor, who stands accused of sexually assaulting a Jakarta International School (JIS) student, began at the South Jakarta District Court, while four other janitors facing the same charges are to attend their first hearings on Wednesday.

Jakarta Prosecutor'€™s Office spokesman Waluyo said that one of the defendants was scheduled to attend trial Tuesday morning, while the trials of the four other defendants would start on Wednesday.

He said the five accused would be tried separately, although they faced similar charges.

'€œThe agenda is in accordance with the court'€™s schedule,'€ he said as quoted by tempo.co on Monday. He added that according to their dossiers, the five suspects allegedly played different roles in the case.

Your comments:

There are far too many things in this situation that simply do not add up. Hospital examination reports were not filed by the prosecutors, the child has herpes, one defendant died in custody under '€œsuspicious circumstances'€ and no autopsy was carried out as the family didn'€™t want it done.

This has nothing to do with the family'€™s requests as people'€™s lives and futures are on the line here. Protocol and correctness must be adhered to at all costs.

Perhaps the defense team needs to seek a court order to have the body exhumed and a full autopsy carried out to determine the actual cause of death?

The police have a moral and civic responsibility to submit all relevant documentation to the courts and prosecutor'€™s office.

These are enormous charges brought against people and, whether guilty or innocent, they have basic fundamental rights to a fair trial.

Can the omission of critical evidence by the police be deemed as an attempt to '€œpervert the course of justice'€?

Bay

When investigating a case involving a suspected child molester, the stakes are high and a full confession is critical.

But the ability to interview and relate to this type of offender is something that doesn'€™t come naturally for most police officers.

Many officers find the subject matter, as well as the offenders, repulsive.

They cannot have an amiable conversation with a person who they believe has molested a child.

They are not able to mask their feelings, and they allow contempt, disgust and hatred to surface during the interview, greatly reducing the likelihood that the offender will open up and share his deepest secrets.

Do the investigators who interviewed the cleaners have the experience and the right credentials to deal with child sex offenders?

Do these feelings of disgust and hatred from the investigators explain the torture the cleaners received during the interrogation that lead to a coerced confession?

Chotto Mattee

Child molestation is not an occurrence in particular schools only; crime can happen anywhere and involve anyone.

There'€™s no pattern. It'€™s awful what happened. I just hope they actually look at all the evidence, carry out physical exams and draw the logical conclusions.

Rocket

The length of these trials will certainly be interesting '€” the way reports read, it seems they will be over very quickly.

Sjaellis

Like most JIS parents (and the school itself) I initially believed the allegations, but as the story changed to the impossible (daytime rape in clear view of dozens of people) we came to realize that stories were being invented.

Themis

If I were the honorable judges I would want to question the fathers of the boys.

Perhaps also the reason why the mother would lie, saying that she never visited the school with her child to coach him, and then was proven by closed-circuit cameras to be leading him and coaching him at midnight.

As a judge I would be most interested in why a lawsuit should suddenly turn from 13.5 million, accusing ISS cleaners, to 125 million, accusing teachers after JIS refused to pay. Your magazines are most helpful but the facts of this case speak for themselves.

Ian Intordoff