A panel of judges on Tuesday sentenced teenaged couple Ahmad Imam Al Hafitd, 19, and Assyifa Ramadhani, 18, to 20 years in prison each for deliberately assaulting and murdering Hafitd's ex-girlfriend, 19-year-old Ade Sara Angelina Suroto.



The sentence was lighter than the life sentences sought by prosecutors.



The panel ' led by judge Absoro ' said in two separate verdicts that both defendants had been proven guilty of planning and carrying out the murder together.



'I hereby sentence the defendant Assyifa Ramadhani to 20 years in prison for her proven role in masterminding and carrying out the planned murder,' Absoro said as he read out the first verdict at the Central Jakarta District Court. A similar sentence was handed down to Hafitd.



After the judges concluded the first verdict, Assyifa's mother rushed to hug her daughter, who was sitting motionless in the defendant's seat. Both cried.



Assyifa, her mother and her lawyers later stepped outside the courtroom, at which time Assyifa fainted and was rushed to another room.



After the second verdict was read out, Hafitd calmly stood up and approached his mother, who was shakily crying, to hug her and console her.



In the verdicts the judges argued that, despite the lack of a legal description of 'premeditated murder' in the Criminal Code, the murder was deliberate and premeditated.



'Despite knowing that the victim was helpless, shouting for help and begging for mercy, and despite knowing that what they were doing might lead to something like death, the perpetrators continued to assault her anyway for hours and they did not give the victim a chance to get out of the car. It implied that they had wanted such conditions,' Absoro said, adding that the motive behind the murder was 'trivial'.



The former couple picked up Ade Sara on her way to an extracurricular class at the Goethe-Institut in Central Jakarta before torturing her ' gagging her, inflicting electric shocks and beating her for hours ' in Hafitd's car on March 3.



Ade Sara's father, Suroto, admitted he was disappointed with the sentence, saying that he had hoped the judges would grant the prosecutors' demand.



'They had clearly committed the murder [...] I hope that the prosecutors will file an appeal,' he told reporters after the verdict.



Prior to the verdicts, Suroto pointed out that he and his wife were also victims in the case.



'I did not raise them [the perpetrators], but we have fallen victim to other parents' failure in raising their children. It is difficult to become a parent and there are no schools designated for parents, but they should realize that mistakes in raising children may cause harm to other people,' he said.



Hafitd's lawyer said that his client had yet to decide whether to file an appeal, but Assyifa's lawyer Triarini said that she would do so.



'The murder was not premeditated, nor it was deliberate as Assyifa herself was shocked when Ade Sara died,' she said.



Meanwhile, prosecutor Aji Susanto said the prosecution would appeal if the defendants filed appeals.



Talking to reporters from behind bars at the Central Jakarta District Court, Hafitd said he did not have any hope for a lighter sentence should the case be brought to a higher court.



'I don't expect anything. I will just live with it and hope to be able to do good while serving my sentence,' he said.

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