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Two local men sentenced to death for rape, murder
Merciless: Murder and rape defendants Rahmat Arifin (left) and Imam Hapriyadi (second left) walk into the courtroom to attend a hearing of their trial at the Tangerang District Court in Banten on Wednesday
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span class="caption">Merciless: Murder and rape defendants Rahmat Arifin (left) and Imam Hapriyadi (second left) walk into the courtroom to attend a hearing of their trial at the Tangerang District Court in Banten on Wednesday.(Antara/Lucky R.)
Mahfudoh could not contain her tears and finally broke down and cried upon hearing presiding judge M. Irfan Siregar at the Tangerang District Court read details about how her 19-year-old daughter Eno Parihah was raped and murdered early last year.
Her crying grew loud, prompting Irfan to call a security guard to escort her out of the room.
When she was finally allowed to reenter the room, Mahpudoh heard something that she has been wanting a year to hear: a death penalty sentence for the two defendants in the trial, Imam Harpriadi, 24, and Rahmat Arifin, 24.
Prior to the verdict, Mahpudoh said she never missed a hearing in the past year and that she only wanted the two defendants to be sentenced to death, as prosecutors in the case had demanded.
“Alhamdulillah [Thank God],” she uttered upon hearing the verdict, which was met with jubilation from other members of her family.
“What they have done is heinous and sadistic, it leaves a deep scar within the family of the victim. Furthermore, they did not express remorse and did not want to confess their crimes. They don’t have any redeeming qualities,” presiding judge Irfan said in his verdict.
Irfan said there was enough evidence to prove that the rape and murder of Eno was premeditated.
The murder of Eno has rocked Tangerang given the brutality with which Imam, Rahmat and another perpetrator inflicted violence on their victim. The other perpetrator, RA, a 15-year-old boy, was sentenced to 10 years in prison last year.
The body of Eno, a worker at a plastics factory in Kosambi, Tangerang, was discovered in May last year by her friends at PT Polyta Global Mandiri, Eroh, Tikroh and Nopi, on Friday.
They found that Eno’s room was locked from outside and they decided to break into the room.
The Tangerang Police moved to arrest the three suspects in late.
The murder took place at midnight on May 10, 2016, when the victim’s 15-year-old boyfriend, RA, came to her boarding house in Kosambi.
Having only been acquainted with Eno for one month, RA reportedly asked the victim to have sex, but she declined. RA was angered by the rejection and contacted Rahmat and Imam to join him.
The three friends then broke into Eno’s room and committed the crime by strangling the victim with a pillow until she nearly fainted before taking turns to rape her.
Eno’s body was discovered with a garden hoe shoved into her genitalia the next day.
Arifin and Imam were charged under Article 340 of the Criminal Code (KUHP) on premeditated murder, which carries the death penalty, and Arifin was charged with Article 285 on rape as well.
National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) commissioner Natalius Pigai criticized the judge’s decision to hand down the death penalty, deeming it too harsh.
He said that despite the severity of their crime, the convicts still had rights to seek justice.
“They should be punished with lifetime imprisonment instead of the death penalty,” Natalius told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday, adding that he urged the convicts’ families to file a request with his commission to get legal assistance from the rights body during the appeal.
