A former headteacher was sentenced to death for raping 13 underage girls at his school in Indonesia after a campaign led by the country’s first lady. The legal proceedings are an example of how gender equality is progressing, but they also show that there remains much work to be done in changing attitudes towards sexual violence against women and children.
The “indonesian news in english” is a story about an Indonesian headteacher who was sentenced to death for raping 13 girls.
Herry Wirawan had been condemned to life in jail, but his sentence was set aside pending an appeal. (Picture/Getty/AP)
In Indonesia, a headmaster was sentenced to death for rapping at least 13 pupils, some of whom he forced to get pregnant.
Herry Wirawan was found guilty by a three-judge panel in February, when he was 36, and was sentenced to life in jail.
However, following an appeal, it has now been updated.
The head of an Islamic girls boarding school in West Java was accused of rapping girls aged 11 to 14 at the school, at hotels, and in leased houses.
The rapes are said to have resulted in the birth of at least nine kids.
When the parents of a victim went to the authorities after their daughter came home on vacation and reported she had recently given birth, West Java police started investigating the case and arrested Wirawan in May.
The case aroused outrage, with authorities claiming that the victims were too afraid to inform anybody about their ordeals, which happened between 2016 and 2021.
Wirawan was the head of a Muslim residential school for females (Picture: AP)
The episode provoked widespread public outrage (Picture: AP)
An appeal by prosecutors to execute Wirawan and take his assets has been approved by an Indonesian high court.
However, they turned down prosecutors’ proposal for chemical castration, stating that someone condemned to death or life imprisonment may not be subjected to any further penalties save the loss of certain privileges.
‘What he had done had caused pain and suffering to the victims and their parents,’ the justices said in a judgement delivered today by the Bandung High Court.
‘The defendant tainted the image of Islamic boarding schools,’ the judge said.
Instead of collecting Wirawan’s assets, the lower Bandung District Court ordered Indonesia’s child protection ministry to give compensation to the victims as well as medical and psychological therapy for each girl.
Last month, Wirawan appeared in a lower court for a hearing (Picture: AP)
Through rape, the former instructor is said to have fathered at least nine children (Picture: Reuters)
The ruling was reversed by the supreme court, which means a foundation he owns will be seized and auctioned to help the victims and their children.
The judges also ordered that nine children born to the victims be handed over to the Children and Women Protection Agency for evaluation ‘until the victims are mentally ready to care for their children, and the situation allows for their children to be returned to the victims,’ according to the ruling.
Ira Mambo, Wirawan’s attorney, said that she will urge her client to appeal the sentence to the Supreme Court.
They have seven days to appeal the court’s ruling before it becomes final.
During the trial, Wirawan pled guilty and apologized to his victims and their families.
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