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Regent’s son walks free after 1.5 months for shooting contractor with rubber bullet
The Majalengka District Court has sentenced Irfan Nur Alam, the son of Majalengka regent Karna Sobahi who served as an official in the administration, to 1.5 months in prison for shooting a contractor in a project fee dispute.
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Irfan Nur Alam, son of the Majalengka regent, was sentenced to 1.5 months in prison after shooting a contractor with a rubber bullet in a compensation dispute. (Shutterstock/-)
T
he Majalengka District Court has sentenced Irfan Nur Alam, the son of Majalengka regent Karna Sobahi who also served as an official at the administration, to 1.5 months in prison for shooting a contractor in a project fee dispute.
The panel of judges, consisting of presiding judge Eti Koerniati, Kopsah and Didik Haryadi, sentenced Irfan and his two accomplices to one month and 15 days of prison and required them to pay a Rp 4,500 (US 32 cents) fine.
However, the time that Irfan and his associates had already served counted towards the sentence, so the three convicts walked free immediately after the trial.
Irfan, a civil servant who works as the head of the financial and development unit of the Majalengka Regional Secretary Office shot a contractor named Panji Pamungkasadi in November because Panji had asked Irfan to pay back debts for the project his company had worked on.
Based on Police investigation, Irfan, who is also the chairman of the Majalengka branch of the Indonesian Shooting Association, shot Panji using a 9 mm caliber pistol with rubber bullets. Panji suffered a wound to his left arm.
The panel of judges found Irfan guilty of negligence in the incident.
"The defendant is found guilty for violating Criminal Code Article 360 (2) on negligence in causing harm to others, and therefore, the defendant is sentenced to one month and 15 days in prison reduced by the time he has already served," judge Eti said.
The sentence was lighter than the two months sought by the prosecutors.
Eti said the sentence was not revenge for the defendants but a lesson so that they would not repeat the deed in the future.
She also explained several mitigating factors that lightened Irfan's sentence, such as Irfan's polite behavior during the trial and the fact that he admitted to the crime, regretted it and promised never to do it again.
"The victim has also withdrawn his police report, and both parties have made peace," Eti said.
Irfan's lawyer, Kristiawanto, said there were many new facts revealed during the hearing that the public did not know about and were not reported by the media.
"There were no debts among the parties, my client did not hold the victim at gunpoint and the victim was not attacked by a group of men," Kristiawanto said.
He claimed the Majalengka regent had never intervened in the trial.
"Even though our client is the son of the Majalengka regent, there was not a single instance of intervention that happened during the law enforcement process," Kristiawanto said. (nal)
