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ec. 6, 2015

After a week of mass uproar, the suspect in Surabaya'€™s fatal Lamborghini crash that killed one man and badly injured two others has been sent to prison while police conduct further investigations into the case.

Surabaya Police spokesperson Lily Djafar said that the suspect, with the initials WL, was transferred from hospital to prison after undergoing identification, fingerprinting and a form-filling process. The police are only allowing him to leave jail for investigation purposes.

'€œAll prisoners are treated indiscriminately, in accordance with procedure,'€ said Lily to the press, as quoted by Antara news agency on Saturday.

Your comments:

Watch this spoilt little rich kid get off lightly in this case. In Indonesia money still talks!

Rick in Bali

So, we are to believe that this guy is just another run of the mill resident? How many people are driving around in Lamborghini'€™s in Surabaya? Who is this guy?

The police know, but they are not saying. This leads me to believe that we are talking about some corrupt rich family'€™s spoiled brat kid who will be bailed out as soon as possible and be back on the road within a few weeks with a new car.

Charlesjarret

We all know the only ones to blame are Hollywood movies and Italian car makers.

Jakartad

The only people to blame are drivers who go too fast and don'€™t drive carefully.

Upright Maryann

In terms of fatal road accidents involving rich kids playing with expensive toys, this is a minor mishap. Going by precedents to the case, he should get off scot free.

In January 2013, the 22-year-old son of then coordinating minister for the economy, Hatta Rajasa, rammed a BMW X5 at high speed into a minivan parked at the side of the Jagorawi toll road. Two people were killed and three others were injured. He was sentenced to six months of probation (no jail term) and a fine of Rp 12 million.

Nine months later, in September 2013, the 13-year-old son of musician Ahmad Dhani lost control of his recent birthday gift, a Mitsubishi Lancer, which skidded and hit two other vehicles also on the Jagorawi toll road. Seven people were killed and 11 others were injured.

Neither the son nor the father was convicted.

Wandering Star

Just to put you all in perspective, under Indonesian law, the maximum penalty of for causing death in a traffic accident is '€œonly'€ six years jail and/or a fine. Additionally, you can have a settlement; or a civil lawsuit if the parties disagree on how large the compensation should be.

Given that the maximum penalty is just six years, facts such as the kid not having a criminal record, being very young, the accident not being entirely his fault and a clever lawyer could result in a significantly reduced sentence. If you think things are so different in the UK or Australia for example, go and check your respective law books yourself.

The bottom line is that any such law will have to admit that an otherwise very responsible person could have had a bad day, a momentary glitch and horribly caused the death of another.

Then again, any clever lawyer will of course try to make any drunken driver to appear as such.

Sudharsana

In January 2015, Christopher Daniel Sjarief, who killed four and injured several others in a series of deadly collisions, walked away free after the South Jakarta District Court handed him a one-and-a-half year suspended prison sentence and Rp 10 million in fines.

Chotto Matte

In the UK NGOs such as Brake are pushing for stiffer sentences for accidents such as these, even though the sentences are currently already much heavier than here. The maximum sentence for '€œcausing death by dangerous driving'€ or '€œcausing death by careless driving under the influence of drink or drugs'€ is 14 years in prison.

Having said that, I bet no court in the UK would pass such glaringly lenient sentences for the kind of horrendous accidents described above.

WS

I find it difficult to believe he was speeding, if he was speeding they would have announced how fast he was going.

Jakfan