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Oz fitness instructor seeks light sentence

An Australian fitness instructor, Jake David Drage, says he is hoping for a lighter sentence than the six years’ imprisonment demanded by prosecutors

The Jakarta Post
Wed, September 3, 2014

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Oz fitness instructor seeks light sentence

A

n Australian fitness instructor, Jake David Drage, says he is hoping for a lighter sentence than the six years'€™ imprisonment demanded by prosecutors.

The 23-year-old was charged under Article 310 of the 2009 Traffic and Transportation Law on reckless driving resulting in death.

According to the indictment, the Geraldton, Western Australia, born Drage was on his way to Cimaja Beach in Sukabumi to surf on June 30 when he was involved in a traffic accident that claimed the life of another motorist.

'€œWe hope the verdict will be lighter because it was a pure accident,'€ Drage'€™s lawyer, Hartono Michael Kuo, said after the
first hearing at Cibadak District Court in Sukabumi, West Java, on Tuesday.

Prosecutor Eka Aryanta Parinding indicted Drage for recklessly driving a motorcycle with an expired driver'€™s license.

According to the indictment, the accident occurred when Drage was traveling at 30 to 40 kilometer per hour on Jl. Cisolok-Bayah in Sukabumi.

Eka said the defendant had attempted to overtake a truck on a section of the road that had an unbroken line in the center. To overtake where there is a solid center line is against the law.

At the same time, Mela Riza, 17, and her mother, Kokom, 40, came from the opposite direction and could not avoid the defendant. The two motorbikes'€™ handlebars brushed against each other and Kokom and Mela were thrown off their motorbike.

Kokom, who sustained severe head injuries, was rushed to the hospital but could not be saved. Mela sustained only bruises.

'€œThe victim hurt her head and blood came out of her ears and nose,'€ Eka said at the hearing, which was presided over by judge Heri Sutanto.

Kokom'€™s husband, Iim, 46, said he had accepted his wife'€™s death as fate.

'€œNobody wants an accident. Jake and his family have settled this case with us. We have forgiven them and our relationship is fine,'€ he said when visiting Drage at the Warung Kiara detention center a day before the trial started.

Iim said the Drage family had paid his family US$3,000 in compensation.

Drage refused to comment on the indictment and briefly said to reporters, '€œSorry. Find out more next week.'€

Drage'€™s mother, Tiena Drage, also attended the trial, but she refused to talk to reporters. She occasionally wiped away tears during the trial, which was adjourned until next week.

'€” JP/Arya Dipa

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