Herry Wirawan was the principal of the Girls School in Bandung, West Java. He pleaded guilty to the charges and apologized for his actions to the victims and their families.
According to the indictment, he was accused of raping at most 13 students aged 11-14 between 2016 and 2021 at the school. He also allegedly did so in hotel rooms or rented apartments. According to the indictment, at least nine children were reportedly born as a result of the rapes.
This case caused a public outcry due to the sheer number of rapes and how long they lasted.
Officials stated that many victims didn’t report their sexual assaults out of fear of having to go through the same trauma again. Their parents believed the boarding school was helping their children become religious and good people.
West Java police started investigating the case and arrested Wirawan in May last year. Wirawan was taken into custody after Wirawan’s parents, who had returned from a holiday with their daughter and told them she had just given birth.
The case was not made public until November when the court proceedings began. The police claimed that they withheld the information from the public to avoid further psychological and social harm to the victims.
Wirawan was convicted by the three-judge Bandung District Court panel of child protection and criminal code violations. The three-judge panel at Bandung District Court also ordered the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection ($23,200) to pay the victims a combined amount of $331 million rupiah and between $600 and $6000 for psychological and medical treatment.
“The defendant committed violence and other obscene acts intentionally,” said Presiding Judge Yohannes Suryo Ali. He used violence and threats of violence to make his students have sexual intercourse.
Judges also ruled that the nine children of the victims should be given to the Children and Women Protection Agency for periodic evaluation, “until they are mentally ready to take care of their children, and the circumstances allow for their return to their parents.”
Wirawan was asked by the prosecution to be sentenced to both death and chemical castration. The judges denied Wirawan’s request for chemical castingration. They stated that the Criminal Code states that persons sentenced to death or life imprisonment can not be subjected to any other punishments than the revocation and enforcing of certain rights.
Wirawan’s attorneys and the prosecution said that they are considering whether to appeal. They have seven days to appeal before the court’s decision becomes final.