Jakarta. The South Jakarta District Court on Tuesday found Panca Darmansyah guilty of murdering all his four children and sentenced him to death.

Presiding Judge Sulistyo Muhamad Dwi Putro said the panel couldn’t find any mitigating factor to offer leniency for Panca, who killed the children aged between one and six while his wife was being treated at a hospital for physical injuries from his attack the day before.

He murdered his young children by suffocating them,  starting with the youngest child, at his rented home in the Jagakarsa area, South Jakarta, on December 3, 2023.

According to court documents, Panca, 42, covered the mouth and nose of the victims, leading to their deaths due to oxygen deprivation. 

Subsequently, Panca arranged the bodies of his children on a mattress in ascending order of their ages, placing a family photograph atop the eldest child.

During the police reenactment, conducted as part of standard criminal investigation procedures, a police investigator recounted deposition documents, stating that "he squatted while carrying out the killings, each taking approximately 15 minutes."

Panca filmed the bodies using a cellphone.

When the children were silently murdered, their mother was undergoing treatment at a hospital for severe injuries after she was attacked by Panca a day earlier.

The bodies were discovered on December 6, three days after the incident, when neighbors grew suspicious of a foul smell emanating from the house on Kebayoran Raya Street. 

They forced a door and found Panca in the bathroom with self-inflicted stab wounds, apparently attempting suicide, and the children's bodies in the bedroom.

The judge said his cruelty against his own children and wife who counted on him for protection and safety cannot be forgiven.

Panca was found guilty of premeditated murders and violations of the child protection law and the law against domestic violence.

His attorneys immediately stated they would appeal the sentence, citing mental disorder arguments.