T

he 6-year-old kindergarten student who was allegedly sexually assaulted by five outsourced cleaners at Jakarta International School (JIS) testified in a hearing at the South Jakarta District Court on Wednesday.

However, renowned child psychologist Seto Mulyadi, who was present at the hearing, strongly disapproved the boy'€™s attendance as, according to him, allowing the child to face his alleged abusers would slow the boy'€™s mental recovery from the assault.

'€œThe child does not have to attend a hearing to testify about what he experienced. This is bordering on violating the child'€™s rights. He is trying to forget the incident and he should not be reminded of it again,'€ he told The Jakarta Post, adding that he had already expressed his disapproval to the panel of judges and state prosecutors

The boy entered the closed-door hearing in a Spiderman costume to shield his face from the public and was accompanied by his parents and officials from the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK).

Previously, the victim'€™s lawyer, Andi Asrun, said that the child would testify via teleconference.

Seto, who was scheduled to testify on Wednesday, said that the child'€™s psychologist'€™s analysis of him should have sufficed as the boy'€™s testimony. Seto failed to testify because he had another appointment.

Five defendants'€“ Afrischa Setyani, Virgiawan Amin, Zainal Abidin, Syahrial and Agun Iskandar, who were all employed by PT Integrated Service Solutions (ISS) to work at JIS '€“ stand accused of having sexually assaulted the victim twice, once in January and once in February, in a restroom at JIS.

Separately, Virgiawan and Agun'€™s lawyer, Patra M. Zen, told reporters that the boy told the court about his alleged abuse by several people at the school. Patra said that the victim testified without swearing an oath because he was still underage.

After the victim'€™s testimony, Patra said, the defendant'€™s lawyers presented at the hearing several pictures of the victim swimming and playing on the school'€™s playground several days after the alleged incident.

'€œHe looks happy in the pictures; a child smiling like this can'€™t have been assaulted. The mother had also said that he did not like swimming after the incident, but we have pictures of him swimming,'€ he said.

Seto slammed rumors that the victim was not assaulted and explained that the victim showed many signs of trauma.

'€œThe lawyers don'€™t understand child behavior; they are not experts in the field. The victim acted impulsive and aggressive during the times I met him. He'€™s still smiling and laughing because he is overcompensating for the trauma; he is still a child and doesn'€™t know how to react. The child'€™s heart is hurting,'€ he said.

According to Patra, a second alleged victim, another JIS kindergarten student, also testified in court as a witness. He said that he had told his teacher that he saw the first victim getting assaulted in a campus restroom. '€œHowever, this goes against his mother'€™s testimony. She said that her son did not tell his teacher because one of the cleaners had threatened to kill her if he did,'€ he said. (fss)