Trials to start in Jakarta school sex abuse scandal

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Trials to start in Jakarta school sex abuse scandal
The scandal began with public allegations in April that cleaning staff at the prestigious Jakarta International School (JIS) assaulted a 6-year-old boy

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Five janitors will go on trial this week over allegations they sexually assaulted a student at one of Indonesia’s most prestigious international schools, the first cases in a long-running scandal to go to court.

The scandal at the Jakarta International School (JIS), an institution that has been a favorite with expatriates in the capital for more than 60 years, began when a parent alleged in April that outsourced cleaning staff assaulted her 6-year-old son inside a school restroom. 

The cleaners will be indicted on Tuesday and Wednesday, August 26 and 27, but deny any wrongdoing, a lawyer for two of them said. All of them who previously confessed now plan to recant, claiming police beat them up, he said.

Since the first allegation emerged the scandal has snowballed, with more parents making abuse claims, school staff members accused and a revelation that a suspected serial pedophile sought by the FBI taught there for a decade from 1992-2002.

Abuse claims have been made against Canadian Neil Bantleman, an administrator at the school, and Indonesian teaching assistant Ferdinand Tjiong.

The school has denied the accusations, and commissioned an investigation that it said showed no evidence of the alleged abuse. The pair have been in custody since mid-July while police investigate their cases.

“We are distressed by this turn of events and are very frustrated that our staff members have been detained based on allegations against them that are absolutely false and are made without evidence,” the school said in a statement on July 15, 2014.

The 3 founding embassies of JIS – the US, Australian and British embassies in Jakarta – have also reportedly protested the detention.

The family of one boy allegedly abused has filed a civil suit against the school seeking $125 million in damages.

One of the cleaners, Agun Iskandar, will be indicted in at the start of his trial on Tuesday, while the four others will be formally charged Wednesday, according to officials at the South Jakarta District Court.

However Saut Irianto Rajagukguk, a lawyer representing Iskandar and another cleaner, Virgiawan Amin, said 4 of the cleaners would recant their confessions.

The 5th, a woman, never confessed, he said.

“The accused never committed the alleged rape,” he told AFP. “The police beat the men so badly that they had no choice but to confess.”

The lawyer also said medical examinations on the boy showed no signs of sexual abuses.

Police have repeatedly denied that they beat the cleaners.

A 6th cleaner, Azwar, was implicated in the case but died in police custody. Police say he committed suicide by drinking floor cleaning fluid.

The abuse scandal at JIS, a favorite with the children of foreign businessmen, diplomats and wealthy Indonesians, also sparked soul-searching about the high incidence of sexual abuse at the country’s schools. – with a report from Agence France-Presse/Rappler.com

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