JAKARTA: The Medan police have brought domestic violence charges against a 12-year-old girl, identified only by her initials AL, for allegedly killing her mother and declared the junior high school student as a “child in conflict with the law”.
The legal term refers to adolescents aged between 12 and 18 who are suspected of violating the law, equivalent to a juvenile suspect.
“The investigation has determined AL as a child in conflict with the law and she is charged with articles under the domestic violence law,” Medan Police chief Sr Comr Jean Calvijn Simanjuntak told a press conference on Monday (Dec 29), held at the police headquarters in the North Sumatra capital.
The girl is not being held in a detention centre and has instead been placed in a safe house, where she is permitted to pray, play, communicate, continue her education and exercise her other rights under the strict supervision of experts.
Calvijn explained that AL was charged with Article 44, paragraph 4 of Law No. 23/2004 on the eradication of domestic violence as well as articles 338 and 340 of the Criminal Code (KUHP).
He said the decision to charge the juvenile suspect under the domestic violence law was based on the results of the investigation, which found that she had not readied the knife that was used in the homicide of her mother, Faizah Soraya.
Rather, investigators had determined that the knife was present and readily accessible in the house as a cooking utensil.
Police believe the motivation for the crime stems from accumulated “psychological pressure” due to the victim’s alleged abuse of family members, and are treating the case as a matricide.
According to Calvijn, Faizah allegedly threatened her husband and two daughters repeatedly with a knife over the past three years.
“The perpetrator often saw [Faizah] hitting her older sister with a belt, which caused bruising to the legs, calves and hands. [...] The victim also repeatedly scolded [AL], her older sister and even their father,” he said.
Neighbours apparently viewed the family as harmonious but the situation inside the home was fragile, Calvijn said, with the husband living on the upper floor while Faizah and the two daughters lived on the ground floor.
“AL was inspired to use a knife against her mother after playing the online game Murder Mystery and watching the anime series Detective Conan, which includes a scene of a murder [that involved] a knife,” he said.
Faizah was killed in her sleep at around 4am on Dec 10. The subsequent investigation discovered 26 stab wounds on her body.
The older sister, identified as AJ, allegedly woke up while the crime was occurring, saw that her mother was wounded and took the knife away from AL, sustaining an injury to her hand.
In a panic, AJ ran to the upper floor to wake her father, followed by AL. The three then descended to the ground floor, where AJ checked on her mother and AL sat on a sofa in the living room.
“When the father checked, [Faizah] was still alive and even asked for an ambulance,” said Calvijn, adding that the husband immediately called a hospital.
“While waiting for the ambulance, the victim also asked for water, and AJ immediately got some water for her mother,” he said, but Faizah had died by the time the ambulance arrived at around 5.40am. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
