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Teacher gets life in prison for rape of 13 students
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he Bandung District Court in West Java sentenced on Tuesday a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) teacher to life in prison for raping 13 students, in a case that has shocked the country.
The panel of judges, comprising Yohannes Purnomo Suryo Ali, Riyanto Aloysius and Eman Sulaeman, found Herry Wirawan guilty of raping 13 female students aged 11 to 14 and impregnating at least eight of them. The court heard from 44 witnesses, including the 13 child victims and three experts.
During the trial, it was revealed that he had repeatedly assaulted his victims while he worked at several pesantren from 2016 to 2021, including Madani, Yayasan Manarul Huda and Pondok Tahfiz Al-Ikhlas.
The 36-year-old confirmed all witness testimonies and did not dispute them.
The case first came to light when the family of a female student reported Herry to the police in May 2021 for raping and impregnating their teenage daughter.
State prosecutors initially demanded the death sentence for Herry, citing the 2016 Child Protection Law. They also demanded that he undergo chemical castration, pay a fine of Rp 500 million (US$35,050), give his victims Rp 331 million in restitution and have his assets seized and auctioned off. The proceeds, they said, would be used to provide financial support for his victims and the children they conceived from being raped.
However, in their verdict, the judges freed the defendant from paying his victims restitution and instead ordered the state through the Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry to compensate them.
The judges also ruled that the nine children born as a result of the rapes would be cared for by the West Java Women Empowerment, Child Protection and Family Planning Agency.
The head of the West Java Prosecutors' Office, Asep N Mulyana, who also served as the main prosecutor for the case, responded to the verdict by asking for time to decide whether to appeal.
“There’s no commutating factor [for Herry], which is why we asked for the maximum penalty,” Asep said after the trial.
Ira Mambo, Herry’s attorney, said his client had not yet decided whether to appeal.
“We have given him information on his rights. We still don’t know his decision,” Ira told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday afternoon.
While lauding the verdict, Jakarta-based activist group the Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) questioned the judges’ decision to order the state to pay the victims restitution as a third party.
“Unfortunately, today we have no legal mechanism for restitution payment by the state. As such, it is highly probable that the restitution will not be paid to the victims,” ICJR researcher Maidina Rahmawati.
She said it would be very easy for the government to deny pay with no legal obligation.
“Without legal clarity, this would be another blow to the victims,” she told the Post.
Maidina further said that the case highlighted the urgent need for the government and legislators to consider including a victim trust fund mechanism in the Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP) and the long-delayed sexual violence bill.
Previously, the Association of Education and Teachers (P2G) urged the Religious Affairs Ministry to issue a ministerial regulation on the prevention and handling of sexual violence in religious-based educational institutions.
According to the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), of the 51 cases of sexual violence it dealt with between 2015 and 2020, 19 percent took place in pesantren, making them the second-most common setting after universities (27 percent) for sexual violence.
