Teacher at Indonesian Islamic school who raped 13 students as young as 12 leaving eight pregnant now faces the death penalty after his life sentence was upgraded

• Herry Wirawan, who raped 13 girls at an Indonesian school, faces death penalty
• The teacher had initially been sentences to life in prison by a court in February
• However prosecutors who filed for the death penalty had filed an appeal

By ELMIRA TANATAROVA and CHRIS JEWERS FOR MAILONLINE and AFP and WIRES
PUBLISHED: 12:11, 4 April 2022 | UPDATED: 13:05, 4 April 2022

A teacher who raped 13 girls at an Islamic boarding school in Indonesia now faces the death penalty, a court has today said, after he had initially been sentenced to life in prison.

Herry Wirawan - who judges said sexually groomed 13 girls, aged between 12 and 16 years old and impregnated at least nine of his victims - was sentenced to life in jail in February but prosecutors who filed for the death penalty filed an appeal.

The shocking case has spotlighted the need to protect children from sexual violence in Indonesia's religious boarding schools.


Herry Wirawan - who judges said sexually groomed 13 girls, aged between 12 and 16 years old and impregnated at least nine of his victims - was sentenced to life in jail in February

'(We) hereby punish the defendant with the death penalty,' the judge said in a statement on Monday posted on the Bandung High Court's website.

Ira Mambo, Herry's lawyer, declined to comment on whether there would be an appeal, citing a need to see the full ruling from the court.

A spokesperson for the local prosecutor's office also said it would wait to receive the final ruling before commenting.

Between 2016 and 2021, Herry sexually groomed the 13 girls, who were between 12 and 16 years old, and impregnated eight of his victims, a judge said in February.

Indonesian officials, including the country's child protection minister, had also backed calls for the death penalty, though the nation's human rights commission, which opposes the death penalty, said it was not appropriate.

Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim majority country, has tens of thousands of Islamic boarding schools and other religious schools that often provide the only way for the children of poorer families to get an education.


The shocking case has spotlighted the need to protect children from sexual violence in Indonesia's religious boarding schools

Wirawan had arrived in court in handcuffs and kept his head down as the judge sentenced him. The court said restitution for the victims will be paid by the government.

While the chairman of Indonesia's Child Protection Commission said the initial verdict meant 'justice for the victims has been served', a family member of one of the victims told AFP news agency he was 'very disappointed' that Wirawan did not receive a harsher sentence and warned that leniency would embolden other abusers.

'This wound will never be healed as long as we live, maybe until we die. The pain we are feeling is indescribable. We don't feel heard,' said Hidmat Dijaya, an uncle of one of the 13 victims.

'If the sentence is lenient like this, there will be more Islamic teachers who will abuse children,' he added.

'We will let God as the highest judge punish him. We can only pray because those judges failed to represent our hurt and pain.'


Between 2016 and 2021, Herry sexually groomed the 13 girls, who were between 12 and 16 years old, and impregnated eight of his victims, a judge said in February

Dedeh Marlina, a 42-year-old housewife living near the school where Herry taught, had said she was relieved the perpetrator had been stopped but that the damage had been done.

'I know most of them came from poor families in remote areas...unfortunately they are now carrying the burden of what happened,' she said.

The case drew a public outcry over the number of rapes and the length of time they occurred.

Officials said many of the victims did not report their rapes for fear of having to relive the traumatic experience, and their parents had trusted that the boarding school was guiding their children to become good and religious people.

Some of Wirawan's victims had also suffered injuries from the rapes.

West Java police began to investigate the case and arrested Wirawan last May when parents of a victim went to the police after their daughter returned home on a holiday and admitted she had just given birth.


Wirawan had arrived in court in handcuffs and kept his head down as the judge sentenced him

The judges also ruled that nine children born to the victims should be handed over to the Children and Women Protection Agency with periodic 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.'

Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim majority country, has tens of thousands of Islamic boarding schools and other religious schools that often provide the only way for the children of poorer families to get an education.

More than 25,000 Islamic boarding schools - known as 'pesantren' - are dotted across the country, with nearly five million students living and studying in the dorms.

The Bandung rape case shone a light on the problem of sexual abuse in some of the schools, with 14 out of the 18 cases reported to the Child Protection Commission last year taking place in pesantren.

Last year two teachers at a boarding school in South Sumatra were arrested for sexually abusing 26 male students over the course of a year.

And in 2020, a boarding school teacher in East Java was sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually assaulting 15 female students.

DailyMail

This is horrific! Can this wickedness ever happen in our Obodo country?

[quote][/quote]

Men, do they ever change?

Itohan22:
Men, do they ever change?

The answer to your foolish question is Yes, they do
What of the southafrican woman that killed her cousin and buried in a shallow grave

You won't use your sense
You go just dey generalise

Clown

I am not a fan of death sentencebut thinking of it... I think it is a good judgement.

Rastaramsey:

The answer to your foolish question is Yes, they do
What of the southafrican woman that killed her cousin and buried in a shallow grave

You won't use your sense
You go just dey generalise

Clown

You the clown here for insulting me when I didn't insult anyone

Kill am

Why don't we use death penalty for pedos

See the way olakpa is holding the guy even with handcuffs, dem nor wan hear story.

Itohan22:

You the clown here for insulting me when I didn't insult anyone

So if I say "Women, do they ever change?" on a female crime thread you won't take it as an insult.

This crime dry very bad and funny.... But it doesn't worth a death penalt