Tangerang. The jubilant parents of murder convict Richard Eliezer made a plea to prosecutors to refrain from appealing the 18-month jail sentence delivered on Wednesday after he was found guilty of murdering fellow officer Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat.

Prosecutors have previously demanded a prison sentence of 12 years for Richard, but the judges at the South Jakarta District Court granted him generous leniency on the grounds that the defendant had agreed to make disclosure of the actual circumstances during the July 8 murder.

The verdict described Richard as a “justice collaborator”.

The 24-year-old told investigators in August that he shot an unarmed Yosua multiple times on the order of Inspector General Ferdy Sambo, for whom he and the victim worked as assistants. 

His revelation dismissed the initial version of the investigation stating that Yosua died in a shootout after he was caught harassing Ferdy’s wife, prompting the National Police to launch a new investigation by a different team.

“Please don’t lodge an appeal, that’s our plea to prosecutors who know firsthand how Richard behaved during court hearings,” Richard’s mother Rynecke Alma Pudihang said in an exclusive interview with news broadcaster BTV.
 
She was accompanied by her husband Sunandag Junus Lumiu during the interview at the couple’s home in Tangerang.

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Rynecke said she and Sunandag rejoiced that the judges handed a sentence far below the demand by prosecutors.

“Once I heard the sentence of one year and six months, I jumped and cried and hugged my husband. Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, we really didn’t expect this before,” she said.

The celebration was in contrast to their reaction when prosecutors demanded 12 years for their son last month.

“His father shouted and we both cried in our room,” she recalled.

Rynecke admitted that during the early stage of the investigation, Richard, who was detained at the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) unit headquarters in Depok, was still determined to follow the scenario that Yosua wasn’t murdered. 

Court hearings revealed that Ferdy attempted to cover up the crime by instructing his men to remove records from security cameras and tampering with the crime scene to leave the impression as if the victim had died after he was involved in a shootout with Richard.

“When we came to visit him at the Brimob headquarters, he was still dishonest. He claimed he had already told the truth but I’m the mother who gave birth to him so I knew he wasn’t honest,” Rynecke said.

On August 5, when Richard was taken to the National Police headquarters for interrogation, he called the parents and “promised to tell truth”, she added.

When Richard met face-to-face for the first time with the parents of the victim in the courtroom, he approached them and kneeled for forgiveness.

The panel apparently also took the touching moment into consideration.

“The family of Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat forgave the defendant,” the judge said.

Earlier this week, Ferdy was surprisingly sentenced to death for becoming the mastermind of the murder while his wife got 20 years in prison.

The same court also sentenced the couple’s personal assistant Kuat Ma’ruf to 15 years in prison and policeman Ricky Rizal to 13 years for becoming an accessory in the crime.

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