Katharina R. Lestari, Jakarta – A court in Indonesia has sentenced a religious teacher and Islamic boarding school owner to life imprisonment for raping more than a dozen underage girls.

Herry Wirawan, 36, was convicted by Bandung District Court in West Java province on Feb. 15 of raping 13 students aged 13-16, eight of whom he made pregnant.

The crimes took place over a five-year period between 2016 and 2021. Many of the victims were from poor families who attended the school on scholarships.

Wirawan was found out when the family of a student reported him to the police for raping and impregnating her last year.

"This sentence must have a deterrent effect and be an example for others to prevent them from doing the same crime," presiding judge Yohanes Purnomo Suryo Adi said.

Prosecutors had demanded the death sentence.

The court also rejected the prosecutors' demand that Wirawan be chemically castrated and ordered the government – through the Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection – to pay 331.5 million rupiah (about US$23,200) in compensation to his victims.

However, the Jakarta-based Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) questioned the court's ruling in regard to the state paying compensation.

"We appreciate the judges' 'goodwill' ... But they failed to understand that there is no legal framework that arranges the payment of compensation by the state. It is very possible that the compensation will not be paid," said Maidina Rahmawati, an ICJR researcher.

Hidmat Dijaya, a relative of one of the victims, said the verdict was disappointing.

"Chemical castration should have been included as the sentence was only life imprisonment. Life imprisonment would be fine as long as chemical castration was included," he told BBC News Indonesia.

Source: https://www.ucanews.com/news/indonesian-religious-teacher-gets-life-for-raping-students/96133