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JIS lawyer denies filing counter suit

A lawyer for Jakarta International School (JIS), Harry Ponto, denied on Wednesday that the school had filed a counter suit for defamation against the mother of a kindergarten student who was allegedly sexually assaulted by six outsourced cleaners and two teachers

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Mon, September 15, 2014

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JIS lawyer denies filing counter suit

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lawyer for Jakarta International School (JIS), Harry Ponto, denied on Wednesday that the school had filed a counter suit for defamation against the mother of a kindergarten student who was allegedly sexually assaulted by six outsourced cleaners and two teachers.

'€œWhy would we file a counter suit against her? The trial for the alleged sexual abuse case has not even finished,'€ he said.

Previously, the mother had filed a civil lawsuit against the school and the Education and Culture Ministry for US$125 million, in relation to the physical and psychological trauma her son sustained due to the incident, which allegedly occurred on the school'€™s grounds.

The trial for the civil lawsuit started on Tuesday at the South Jakarta District Court, attended by representatives from JIS and the Danish outsourcing company PT ISS.

However, the mother and her son were not present and were represented by their lawyer Andi Asrun.

During the trial, JIS had asked the panel of judges to include ISS in the lawsuit because six of their employees were standing trial for allegedly assaulting the child.

The lawsuit was a consequence of the alleged sexual assault case that first came to light when the mother filed a police report on April 14.

The case was uncovered after the victim'€™s mother found bruises on her son'€™s stomach and rectum on March 20.

Eight individuals, comprising six ISS workers and two JIS teachers, have been named suspects.

The two JIS teachers were named suspects after the parents of two more students came forward, accusing Canadian Neil Bantleman, Indonesian Ferdinant Tjiong and American Elsa Donohue of sexually assaulting their young sons. JIS kindergarten and elementary school principal Donohue remains a witness in the case.

The mother told The Jakarta Post recently that JIS had filed a counter suit against both her and the firm.

She explained that in the civil lawsuit, JIS had demanded that she pay them Rp 1.4 trillion for defamation if the suspects were found not guilty.

However, if the six outsourced cleaners were found guilty, the mother said, JIS had asked ISS to pay the same amount.

However, Harry said that even if JIS decided to file a civil lawsuit against the mother, the school would not do so in the middle of the trial of the first civil lawsuit and the outsourced cleaners'€™ trial.

'€œThe teachers accused of sexual assault have filed a lawsuit in Singapore against another mother,'€ he explained, referring to the mother of a second alleged victim.

Harry explained that the JIS teachers had filed a lawsuit against her for defamation as she had allegedly sent their pictures to several JIS students'€™ parents accusing them of sexual assault. (fss)

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