T

he testimony of the kindergarten student allegedly sexually assaulted at the Jakarta International School (JIS) is crucial to the trials of his five alleged attackers, the respective legal teams representing the victim and the accused have said.

'€œThe victim cannot simply be represented by his mother. We need his testimony, too,'€ lawyer for two of the accused, Patra M. Zen, told The Jakarta Post.

On Wednesday, the mother of the alleged victim testified during closed sessions at the Jakarta District Court. She was accompanied by staff from the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK).

Patra added that the mother said her son told her he was sexually abused dozens of times between January and March but could not confirm the dates because she could not remember them. She described her son as too traumatized by the incidents to remember specific dates, especially since he was so young.

'€œShe also revealed that she originally did not know the names of the suspects. She only learned them after the police presented the names to her during the investigation. According to the dossier, her son also did not know their names,'€ he said, adding that it would be better to prove or disprove the charges by examining the victim'€™s medical examination results.

The case first came to light when the mother of the victim held a press conference on April 14. She found bruises on the victim'€™s stomach and anus on March 20 and reported the case to the police on March 24.

The five accused have been named as Afrischa Setyani, Virgiawan Amin, Zainal Abidin, Syahrial and Agun Iskandar, and were all cleaners at JIS employed by PT Integrated Service Solutions (ISS).

In the three-page indictment, the five are accused of having sexually abused the victim twice, once in January and once in February, in toilets in the school.

The evidence consists of a narrative account of events and three medical examination results that describe the six-year-old victim as having tested positive for proctitis, an inflammation of the anus and lining of the rectum; and genital herpes.

The victim'€™s lawyer, Andi Asrun, agreed that the victim'€™s testimony was vital to prove the accusations. However, he said he would propose to the judges that the boy testify via video link so that he would not be in the same room as the defendants. '€œThe victim would be too traumatized by the incident to be able to testify while in the same room as the accused,'€ he said.

The victim could testify by video link from the LPSK headquarters in Central Jakarta. Andi said that if the judges granted his request, the boy would testify in two weeks time.

The mother of a second alleged victim also testified as a witness during the closed sessions. According to Afrischa'€™s lawyer, Isdawati Apriadi, the mother said her son saw the three men with the first victim in a toilet cubicle through a gap in the door. He was allegedly caught peeking by Afrischa who then slapped him on the buttocks.

'€œOur client denies the witness'€™ testimony,'€ Isdawati said. (fss)