Parents should protect their children against promiscuous behavior. Teenagers who lacked parental care and attention tended to be easily persuaded to do negative things.
By
Vina Octavia
·4 minutes read
DOKUMENTASI POLRES LAMPUNG SELATAN
South Lampung Police Chief Adjunct Senior Commissioner Edwin when giving a statement to the media, Monday (13/12/2021).
Grief is still etched on the face of Nanang (40), who is mourning the death of his daughter as a victim of sexual violence and homicide in Bandar Lampung. The migrant worker had just returned from Jambi a month ago and seen his eldest daughter. Now, he has lost MPA (15) forever.
On Tuesday afternoon (14/12/2021), neighbors were still coming to Nanang’s house to convey their condolences. On Tuesday evening, Nanang's relatives were busy preparing a ceremony to mark the seventh day of MPA’s passing at her aunt’s house.
MPA’s body was found on 5 Dec. in an empty house in Sabah Balau village, Tanjung Bintang district, South Lampung. Her death caused great grief for Nanang and his family.
His daughter had lost her dignity and life in a sadistic crime. The grief her family and relatives felt only grew on learning that her killer was S (17), MPA's friend and neighbor.
As her father, Nanang acknowledged that his busy job as a construction worker earning a living for his family had prevented him from giving his full attention to his daughter. Moreover, he no longer lived with his wife since last year, when Nanang separated from his wife, who remarried.
Due to the difficult economic conditions during the pandemic, Nanang decided to go to Jambi to seek work. MPA lived with her grandmother. She also often stayed at the home of her aunt or a friend. MPA often helped her grandmother sell pecel lele (fried catfish) from night to dawn. MPA often did not come home, telling her father that she was staying at a friend's house.
MPA did not come home on Tuesday (30/11). Nanang tried to find her at the homes of her friends, including S, who has been named as a suspect of her murder. However, Nanang did not report MPA as missing to the police because he thought she was staying at a friend's house.
"I also did not think my child's social life had come this far," he said regretfully.
TOTO SIHONO
Illustration of violence against women
Wreath
The South Lampung Police disclosed that MPA's death by homicide also involved MT (34), a construction worker in Bandar Lampung. This shocked her family, as no one in the family knew MT.
MT's involvement in the case called to mind the mysterious delivery of a flower board on 8 Dec. 2021, the day of the victim's funeral. The bouquet containing words of condolence was signed, "MT and friends".
Ernawati (45), the victim's aunt, said that the family never knew who had sent the flower board. "We were shocked when we learned that the perpetrator of the murder arrested by the police was named MT. The name was the same as the sender of the flower board,” she said.
According to her, the family once prohibited MPA from being friends with S because their neighbors had told them S was involved with prostitution.
South Lampung Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Edwin confirmed that S had been named as the suspect and mastermind in MPA’s homicide case. However, he declined to provide any details because the case was under investigation.
“Based on the initial evidence, the perpetrator was annoyed with the victim because the girl didn't want to live with him," said Edwin.
DOKUMENTASI POLRES LAMSEL
The perpetrator MT (34) was presented during an exposure at the South Lampung Police, Monday (12/13/2021)
From the preliminary results of the investigation, S met MT, the suspected killer, in connection with a suspected online prostitution business, with MT suspected to be one of S’s customers. MT admitted that he was ordered to kill MPA and offered a reward of Rp 500,000.
S was also suspected of introducing MT to the victim. The pair allegedly communicated more intensely on social media. During their relationship, MT also gave gifts to the victim, including cosmetics and clothes.
S and MT have been charged under articles 340 and 338 of the subsidiary Criminal Code, as well as Article 80, Paragraph 3 and Article 81, Paragraph 1 of Law No. 17/2016 on Child Protection. The defendants face a minimum sentence of 20 years and a maximum death sentence.
Separately, psychologist Diah Utaminingsih, who is also a counseling and guidance lecturer at the University of Lampung, said that the murderer was very likely emotionally hurt from being rejected by the victim. It was vengeance that prompted the perpetrators to commit murder, she added.
Diah added that MPA’s case also illustrated lack of family support for adolescent girls. In the case of MPA, she did not have a good role model or enough parental care.
According to Diah, parents should protect their children against promiscuous behavior. Teenagers who lacked parental care and attention tended to be easily persuaded to do negative things.
This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi.
