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Killers of ex-journalist sentenced to death
The Cibinong District Court has handed down the death sentence to Muhammad Nurhadi and Sari Murniasih for first-degree murder of Abdullah Fithri “Dufi” Setiawan, while their accomplice Yudi, also known as Dasep, was sentenced to a lengthily prison term
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span>The Cibinong District Court has handed down the death sentence to Muhammad Nurhadi and Sari Murniasih for first-degree murder of Abdullah Fithri “Dufi” Setiawan, while their accomplice Yudi, also known as Dasep, was sentenced to a lengthily prison term.
“Muhammad Nurhadi, also known as Hadi bin Muryanto, and Sari Murniasih have been proven guilty of violating Article 340 of the Criminal Code on premeditated murder. The defendants are therefore sentenced to death,” presiding judge Ben Ronald read out the sentence at the Cibinong District Court on Tuesday, tempo.co reported.
Meanwhile, the panel of judges sentenced Yudi to 10 years in prison for helping dispose of the victim’s body.
Ben said the judges found no mitigating factors that could help reduce the sentences.
“What they have done is inhumane and sadistic. It leaves a deep scar on the victim’s family and violates the prevailing norms in society,” he read further.
The ruling met the demands of the prosecutor read out in a hearing on April 2.
Meanwhile, according to their lawyer Ramli M. Sidiq, the defendants plan to file an appeal.
“We have seven days to decide the next step,” said Ramli, who said he provided a pro bono legal service in the case.
The crime came to light when a scavenger found a Dufi’s body inside a blue plastic drum in Kembang Kuning Industrial Park in Klapanunggal, Bogor Regency, West Java, at 6 a.m. on Nov. 18 last year.
The body was then brought to East Jakarta’s Kramat Jati National Police Hospital, where an autopsy was carried out. The doctor conducting the autopsy found stab wounds on Dufi’s neck and stomach.
Dufi was buried on Nov. 19 in the same tomb as his father at the Semper public cemetery in North Jakarta.
Killed at 43 years of age, he was survived by a wife and six children.
Dufi’s brother, Muhammad Ali Ramdhani, revealed to the press that Dufi had worked on journalistic and marketing assignments for various media companies, including the daily newspapers Rakyat Merdeka and Indopos as well as television stations Berita Satu, iNews TV and TVRI.
Dufi had also established his own advertising company while working at TVRI and freelancing at TV Muhammadiyah.
On Nov. 20, police arrested Nurhadi and Sari near a car wash in Bantargebang, Bekasi, West Java.
They found the victim’s cell phone, ID card, driver’s license, ATM card and passbook during the arrest.
National Police spokesperson Brig. Gen. Dedi Prasetyo revealed that, during questioning, Nurhadi had told police that he had known Dufi before the murder.
Dufi told Nurhadi that he wanted to come to his house for a visit, to which Nurhadi agreed.
During the visit, Nurhadi told the police, he became jealous and tempted after seeing Dufi’s belongings, such as a laptop and mobile phones he had brought to Nurhadi’s rented house in Bojong Kulur village, Gunung Putri district, Bogor regency, West Java.
Nurhadi and Sari thought that Dufi was well off and proceeded to murder the victim on Nov. 16.
Yudi assisted Nurhadi in disposing of the body by putting it in a blue plastic drum, where it was later found by a scavenger.
Yudi was arrested on Nov. 24 in Kampung Cilalay Bodas, Sukabumi, West Java.
Responding to the sentences against the defendants, Dufi’s brother, Muhammad Ali Ramdhani, said he was grateful for the death sentence against Dufi’s killers.
“For the family, the sentencing is just, although it will not bring Dufi back to his wife and children,” Ali said. (ami)
