Bertus at the court room.
KUCHING: An Indonesian labourer has been sentenced to 16 years behind bars by the High Court here after he pleaded guilty to committing culpable homicide not amounting to murder on his countryman this year.
Justice Datuk Yew Jen Kie ordered the custodial sentence on accused Bertus, 31, from Bengkayang in Kalimantan to run consecutively with his previous conviction for a rape charge, in which he was sentenced to nine years in jail and 10 strokes of the rotan.
Altogether he will be serving a total of 25 years in prison.
Yesterday, Bertus, who was originally charged with murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code which provides for a mandatory death penalty, was offered an alternative charge under Section 304(a) of the Penal Code.
The section provides a maximum penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment.
He was found guilty of causing the death of Damok Lumpen, 27, who came from the same village with him, between 10.30am and 11am at an unnumbered house at Lorong 7, Kampung Semeba near Kota Sentosa on Jan 19.
According to the brief facts of the case, the accused had earlier on sent the deceased, his wife and daughter – one after another on a motorcycle – to a karaoke outlet at a nearby village.
They were enjoying themselves while consuming alcohol and around 10pm the accused sent the deceased’s wife and her daughter back after the girl said she was sleepy.
Upon reaching their home at a farm, the woman brought her daughter in but heard the sound of the front door being forced upon and saw the accused entering the house.
She was forced to have sexual intercourse with him after which she escaped by running out from the house into a chicken coop to hide.
Meanwhile, the woman’s husband (the deceased) and another man, who was the complainant in the case, continued their drinking session.
After 20 minutes, the husband left the karaoke to check on his wife after receiving a call from her.
Upon finding his wife at the chicken coop, he was told that she was raped by the accused, prompting him to go into their house which ensued in a fight with the accused.
Unaware of what had happened, the complainant who was still at the karaoke called the accused to pick him up at around 11pm.
The accused hurriedly dropped him off in front of the house and went off quickly.
Upon entering the house, the complainant saw the deceased lying on the ground in a pool of blood.
He found the deceased’s wife and daughter at the road side.
A police report was made and a police team was sent to the crime scene for investigation, where they found a parang and a helmet.
The accused was arrested on Jan 21 this year around 10.30am at Gita here.
Early this year, the accused pleaded guilty to raping the deceased’s wife and was convicted under Section 376 of the Penal Code.
He was represented by defence counsel Ranbir Singh Sangha.