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Man accused of kicking child at playground seeks mediation
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Jonathan Dunan (left), who has been accused of kicking a boy at a shopping mall in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, is accompanied by his lawyer (center) during a meeting with National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas PA) chairman Arist Merdeka Sirait (right) to discuss the incident at Komnas PA office in East Jakarta. (Warta Kota/Joko Supriyanto)
A
man who allegedly kicked a boy at the playground of a mall in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, is seeking mediation by the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas PA) to clarify the incident.
The man, identified as Jonathan Dunan, said he had intended to halt the motion of a swing with his foot, after the swing had hit his daughter walking behind it on Wednesday. A video of his foot hitting a boy playing on the swing has been widely shared online.
“I was panicked after seeing my daughter fall and cry… I spontaneously approached [my daughter] and intended to stop the swing with my foot, so that it wouldn’t hit other people, including myself,” he said, as quoted by wartakota.tribunnews.com on Monday.
Jonathan said he expected mediation facilitated by the commission to clarify the incident, so the issue could be settled and so that no more fake news about it would circulate online.
The footage circulating on social media shows the boy on the swing unintentionally hitting Wilhelmina Dunan. Jonathan is then seen kicking the boy on the swing. The boy’s mother confronts Jonathan, and their quarrel is recorded on a phone.
Jonathan said the mall’s management had mediated and settled the matter, adding that he had also offered the mother to do medical check-ups of both of their children, which the mother refused.
Kelapa Gading Police issued a summons on Sunday to question Jonathan and the mother of the boy.
Jonathan said he would fulfil the summons on Tuesday. (ami)
