Indonesia’s juvenile justice system under scrutiny after girl, 12, kills mother
The girl, often threatened with a knife by her mother, was inspired to use one after playing online games and watching anime, police say
The child, identified only as AL due to her age, is suspected of having killed her mother, Faizah Soraya, in the early hours of the morning on December 10, when the older woman was asleep in their home in the North Sumatran city of Medan.
Soraya was found with 26 stab wounds to her body after AL allegedly attacked her with a kitchen knife, waking her sister and father, who removed the alleged murder weapon and called an ambulance.
The 42-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.
“The investigation has determined that AL is a child in conflict with the law and she is charged with articles under the domestic violence law,” Medan police chief Jean Calvijn Simanjuntak said at a press conference on December 29, adding that AL had also been charged with murder.
The Malekat Hukum International Law Firm told This Week in Asia that Indonesian criminal law clearly distinguished between adult and child perpetrators following the enactment of the 2012 Juvenile Criminal Justice System. The term “children in conflict with the law” applies to suspects aged 12 to 17.