The prosecutor said Ferdy Sambo, former internal affairs chief of the National Police, was found to have committed the premeditated murder of Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat. He was charged with life imprisonment.
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NORBERTUS ARYA DWIANGGA MARTIAR, REBIYYAH SALASAH
·6 minutes read
ADRYAN YOGA PARAMADWYA
The defendant in the premeditated murder case Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat or Brigadier J, Ferdy Sambo, listens to the reading of the charges by the public prosecutor at the South Jakarta District Court, Tuesday (17/1/2023).
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The prosecutor in the case of former National Police internal affairs chief Ferdy Sambo, the defendant in the alleged premeditated murder of Brigadier J or Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat, has demanded life imprisonment. Charging with obstructing the investigation into the victim's death, the prosecutor said Ferdy was proven to have planned “perfectly” to take Nofriansyah's life.
The prosecutor said Ferdy had allowed himself a sufficient amount of time to arrange the time, place, method and means to kill Nofriansyah. Ferdy was also found to have made up a plot for him to get away with the crime.
During the readout of the charges against Ferdy at the South Jakarta District Court on Tuesday (17/1/2023), Prosecutor Rudy Irmawan asked the panel of judges chaired by Wahyu Iman Santoso to declare Ferdy evidently and convincingly proven guilty of committing the premeditated murder of Nofriansyah. The prosecutor also demanded that the panel of judges declare Ferdy guilty of obstructing the investigation into the victim's death by disrupting the surveillance monitoring device.
"We demand that the panel of judges impose a sentence on defendant Ferdy Sambo with life imprisonment," the prosecutor said.
Ferdy's trial began about an hour later than 9.30 a.m. as it had been initially scheduled. The main courtroom at the South Jakarta District Court was already packed with people when Ferdy was escorted inside at 10.33 a.m.
He took off his detainee vest with number 01 on it. A woman dressed in all-black woman, known as Syarifah, tried to grab his hand and embrace him before she was pulled away by the escorting personnel.
The police personnel told her to leave the courtroom. At the hearing on 29 Nov., 2022, she also did the same thing. She said she was an admirer of Ferdy.
Premeditation elements
The prosecutor said Ferdy’s murder of the victim fulfilled the premeditation elements as stipulated in Article 340 of the Criminal Code, in which the perpetrator premeditates, contemplates and designs the time, place, method and means to be used for the crime. The prosecutor said being well aware of the consequences of his act, the perpetrator plotted the fabrication of the crime scene with the intent that people would not find out he was the murderer.
These elements are what distinguish a premeditated murder from homicide as stipulated in Article 338 of the Criminal Code. In Article 338, the murder is unplanned and impulsive without malice forethought nor the killing methods.
He began to arrange a plan by contemplating, designing before deciding the time, place, method or means to be used for the murder.
According to the prosecutor, the elements of premeditated murder were built through the testimony of witnesses Ricky Rizal, Richard Eliezer and Kuat Ma'ruf, who were also convicts in the crime, and defendant Ferdy Sambo about the chronology leading up to the murder. Based on the testimony of the witnesses and defendant, Putri Candrawathi, who is Ferdy's wife, called Ferdy in the early hours of 8 July 2022 to inform him what she claimed as Nofriansyah's abusive act on her while they were in Magelang, Central Java.
After Putri had arrived back at Duren Tiga, Jakarta, Ferdy had her retell what she had claimed regarding Nofriansyah. ”Listening to Putri’s story, Ferdy Sambo said he would confirm [with Nofriansyah]. He began to arrange a plan by contemplating, designing before deciding the time, place, method or means to be used for the murder," the prosecutor said.
ADRYAN YOGA PARAMADWYA
Journalists covered the trial for reading Ferdy Sambo's charges through a monitor screen at the South Jakarta District Court, Tuesday (17/1/2023). the defendant Ferdy Sambo was sentenced to life in prison by the prosecutor.
After that, said the prosecutor, Ferdy summoned Richard Eliezer and ordered him to shoot Nofriansyah. He reloaded the bullets and assured he would protect his bodyguard. Ferdy said if he was the one to shoot, no one could protect them all.
"In this case, defendant Ferdy had contemplated the consequences of murder, resulting in his plotting of a scenario where it would not be easy to find out he was the murderer," the prosecutor said. The prosecutor pointed out that Ferdy’s perpetration fulfilled the elements of premeditation given the fact that he had fixed the time and place of the murder with him saying "The location is at [Duren Tiga] 46". Ferdy was also said to have tried to convince Richard Eliezer about the claimed sexual harassment done by Nofriansyah on Putri and assured him that he was safe because, in his concocted shootout scenario, Richard was defending Putri and himself.
Defendant Ferdy had contemplated the consequences of murder, resulting in his plotting of a scenario where it would not be easy to find out he was the murderer.
The unfolding court hearings later revealed that Ferdy had confessed to the false claim of sexual harassment and the fabrication of the shootout scenario to his former subordinate at the National Police internal affairs division, Benny Ali. According to the prosecutor, this proved that Ferdy had planned the murder from the onset. Ferdy was also charged with the elimination of evidence by having the surveillance camera recorder in his house complex destroyed.
"Therefore, based on the testimony of expert witnesses, documents and evidence presented during the trial, the elements of premeditated [murder] have been proven according to law," the prosecutor said.
No mitigating factors
According to the prosecutor, the aggravating factor was that Ferdy's act resulted in the loss of Nofriansyah's life and deep sorrow for his family. Ferdy's crime perpetration was said to have caused unrest and uproar in the community. He was found to have convoluted in defense and in vehement denial of his actions during the hearings. Ferdy's act was considered as contravening his status as a law enforcer and a senior officer of the National Police.
The prosecutor concluded that Ferdy's act had tarnished the police institution blatantly before the eyes of the Indonesian public and the international community. His crime had drawn many police officers into collaboration. "There are no mitigating factors whatsoever," the prosecutor said.
After the demands were pronounced, the panel of judges allowed Ferdy to consult with his legal adviser, Arman Hanis. Arman asked for time to prepare the plea or defense. The panel of judges decided that the trial with the agenda of presenting Ferdy's and his legal advisers' defense would be held on Tuesday (24/1).
On Monday, the prosecutor read out the charges against the two other defendants in the alleged premeditated murder of Nofriansyah, with the prosecutor demanding Kuat Ma'ruf and Ricky Rizal each being sentenced to eight years in prison.
