Four Get 8 Years’ Jail Over Deadly Blowfish Brawl in Jakarta

Four Get 8 Years’ Jail Over Deadly Blowfish Brawl in Jakarta
Heru Andriyanto | December 20, 2010


Jakarta. Four men were convicted on Monday of taking part in a deadly brawl on April 3 inside Jakarta’s upscale Blowfish nightclub that left two people dead and sparked communal tensions and subsequent gang violence.

The four suspects were each given eight-year sentences, with judges saying the men twisted the facts of the case and showed no remorse for their actions.

The verdicts against the four — David Too, Rando Lili, Bernardus Malelak and Kanor Lolo — were read in two separate hearings at the tightly guarded South Jakarta District Court, the scene of previous violence related to the case.

In September, three people were killed, one a policeman, in street violence as supporters of the defendants, who are from Flores, clashed with supporters of the Blowfish victims, who were from an Ambonese gang led by well-known underworld figure John Kei.

Police have said that the nightclub fight and the later street violence were the result of a turf war between rival Flores and Ambon factions vying for control of protection rackets involving Jakarta night spots.

The gangs have clashed previously over similar turf disputes in 2004 and 2005.

On Monday, two judges, M. Aksir and Singit Elier, both concluded in separate hearings that the defendants joined a group of around 15 men, armed with machetes and iron bars, to raid the bar after a colleague was punched earlier by the bar’s security guards for entering without paying.

The four defendants were found guilty of assault resulting in injury or casualties.

The sentence was lighter than the 10 years demanded by prosecutors.

“The defendants were never convicted of a crime before and because they are still young, the sentence is meant for correctional purposes,” the judges said when reading the mitigating factors.

The verdict, however, drew outrage from the defense, which accused the court of ignoring the absence of convincing evidence and eyewitness testimony.

“Many things could not be proven by this court,” said lawyer Tigor Simatupang.

“Key witnesses never attended the hearings and the panel relied heavily on the police dossiers read before the court. There is no legal standing for the guilty verdict and we will appeal for sure.”

There seems little prospect that the verdicts will settle the ongoing tensions between the gangs involved.

Two of the defendants were even attacked inside the courthouse on Sept. 22 by supporters of the Blowfish victims.

Observers have said Jakarta’s gangs thrive with the protection of powerful allies in the police who turn a blind eye to their extortion rackets at nightclubs and illegal gambling dens, and also in providing muscle to settle land disputes.

It appeared in the Blowfish incident that a rival gang had entered the nightclub to exact revenge for an earlier slight by those associated with the security.



Jakarta Globe