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Military private stands trial for killing, mutilating girlfriend, faces life imprisonment
Deri said he had strangled Fera to death during a fight.
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Metal handcuffs near judge gavel on dark wooden background (Shutterstock/9dream studio)
P
rosecutors at the Palembang Military Court in South Sumatra have demanded a life sentence for Second Pvt. Deri Pramana, who stands accused of “intentionally killing and mutilating” his 21-year-old girlfriend Fera Oktaria last May.
“We demand that the defendant get life in prison and be dismissed from the military,” military prosecutor Maj. D Butar Butar said as quoted by kompas.com on Thursday.
Butar Butar added that Deri had violated Article 340 of the Criminal Code (KUHP) on premeditated murder.
The killing purportedly occurred on May 8 after midnight at a rooming house in Musi Banyuasin regency. The couple decided to spend the night there after failing to find the home of Deri’s aunt in nearby Banyu Asin regency.
The junior officer was apparently looking for a place to hide as he had just evaded military training in Baturaja, Ogan Komering Ulu regency, in early May.
According to Deri’s statement in a previous hearing, the couple got into an argument after Fera confessed that she was two months pregnant.
“I was angry. [She must have been cheating on me with another guy] as I had been in military training for five months. Besides, that was the night we ever slept together,” Deri said.
He then confessed to banging her head against the wall and strangling her to death. He then mutilated her body with a saw he had taken from the lodging’s warehouse.
Deri cried in his chair after hearing the prosecutor’s demand on Thursday. The panel of judges decided to give him one week to respond to the demand. The next hearing is scheduled to be held next Thursday.
Military judge Maj. Syawaluddin previously expressed his suspicions of premeditated murder as Deri had taken his victim all the way to Musi before killing her.
Musi is a three-hour ride from Fera’s house in Palembang.
“You told the girl that you just wanted to meet her to talk, but then you brought her to Musi. Did you intentionally distance the victim [from her family to kill her?],” Syawaluddin asked in the previous hearing as quoted by tribunnews.com.
Deri could only cry after being bombarded with questions. (vny)
