T

he South Jakarta District Court declared on Tuesday that the trial in a child abuse case implicating two teachers of Jakarta Intercultural School (JIS) must continue after it rejected the teachers'€™ defense statement.

The panel of judges, chaired by Nur Aslam Bustaman, acknowledged the prosecutors'€™ indictment had failed to mention the specific date of the criminal action, but considered that the defense statement delivered by both teachers and their lawyers could not be accepted.

'€œWe do not agree with the lawyers and defendants'€™ objection that the indictment is vague because the victims are only 6-to-8-year-old children who struggled to remember the accurate time of the crime,'€ Nur said.

JIS teaching staff Canadian Neil Bantleman and Indonesian Ferdinant Tjiong are standing trial, accused of sexually abusing children. The prosecutors charged them under Article 82 of the Child Protection Law with a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

The teachers'€™ lawyer demanded the judges declare the case void by law as the indictment only said the incidents allegedly took place between January 2013 and March 2014.

During Tuesday'€™s hearing, Nur said the prosecutors had submitted a complete indictment that showed legitimate evidence of the defendants'€™ alleged role and added the lawyers should not try to drive the judges'€™ opinion.

'€œThe defense statement should be made based on the KUHAP [the Criminal Law Procedures Code]. Do not try to drive judges'€™ opinion in an ongoing trial,'€ she said.

She added that with the rejection of the defense statement, the trial would be continued with the examination of case material and the prosecutors and lawyers would be allowed to put their witnesses on the stand.

'€œThe objection cannot be accepted and the indictment letter is valid and will be used as the trial'€™s consideration,'€ Nur continued.

Bantleman and Ferdinant'€™s lawyer, Hotman Paris Hutapea, said the judges had ruled without fully considering the defendants'€™ objection.

Hotman said that it would be very hard for Bantleman and Ferdinant to defend themselves if the indictment covered a wide time frame.

Article 143 of the KUHAP stipulates an indictment must contain a thorough, clear and detailed description of the criminal action, otherwise it should be declared void by law.

'€œI'€™m aware that the children are very young, but it is the police and prosecutors'€™ job to ensure that the children can remember the specific time. A case like this should not be brought to trial,'€ Hotman said.