T

he North Jakarta Court is scheduled to start the trial of a former teacher at St. Monica'€™s Playgroup in Sunter, North Jakarta, on Wednesday that involves the alleged sexual abuse of a two-and-a-half-year-old child.

The boy'€™s mother said Tuesday she hoped that the accused, her son'€™s extracurricular dance teacher, a woman identified only as H, would be sentenced to heavy prison time because the abuse caused her son, who is currently 4 years old, to experience trauma.

'€œSince the incident my son did not want to go to school any more; it has caused him severe trauma,'€ the mother told The Jakarta Post at the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) office in Menteng, Central Jakarta.

In May 2014 the mother filed a report with the North Jakarta Police, claiming that her son had been molested by his school'€™s dance teacher. The mother told the police her son also showed signs of stress, like screaming and yelling. She said she first learned about the molestation after her son complained about pain in his anus and refused to go to school.

After almost a year of investigation, the police had detained the teacher on Feb. 2 and charged her with Article 82 of Child Protection Law No. 35/2014, which stipulates that anyone who molests a child faces a minimum of five years and a maximum of 15 years imprisonment and a maximum fine of Rp 5 billion (US$385,000).

Paragraph 2 of the article stipulates that if the crime is committed by a teacher, the teacher'€™s sentence will be increased by one-third of the original verdict.

According to the mother, the lengthy investigation and interrogations made the healing process harder as her son had to be asked over and over again about the incident.

'€œA teacher should be someone to give a child protection. I am very angry about this incident and I hope the court imposes a long jail time on her,'€ the mother said.

The mother added that she had brought her son to therapy sessions, but he has yet to show any significant improvement.

Didit Wijayanto Wijaya, the mother'€™s lawyer, accused the school of committing fraud because it claimed it was an accredited playgroup, while in fact it did not even have a license at the time of the incident.

Shortly after the police report was filed, it was disclosed that St. Monica'€™s Playgroup did not have a permit to open a playgroup from the North Jakarta Education Agency. After the alleged incident, the education agency closed the playgroup.

'€œWe are also looking at the possibility of filing a civil suit against the school because my client had been deceived by the school'€™s fake reputation,'€ Didit said.

During the case investigation, North Jakarta Police revealed that data from the CCTV cameras that videotaped the crime scene had been deleted before the police confiscated the evidence.

The lawyer of the school, Reynold Thonak, said, as quoted by kompas.com, that the school did not delete anything from the CCTV tapes and that the CCTV did not record anything.

Meanwhile, KPAI commissioner Titik Haryati said that the commission would pay close attention to the trial to make sure that the accused will be sentenced to an appropriate punishment.

'€œWe want a punishment that will contain a deterrent effect for the perpetrator,'€ she said.