Indonesian child serial killer sentenced to life in prison

Indonesian child serial killer sentenced to life in prison

2010-10-06 23:25:22 GMT+7 (ICT)

JAKARTA, INDONESIA (BNO NEWS) -- An Indonesian serial killer was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday for raping, mutilating and murdering up to 14 children since 1993, local media reported.

Baekuni, 49, of Jakarta and a street cigarette vendor would befriend children from the streets of the city before raping and murdering them. On January 7, he murdered, sodomized, and mutilated 9-year-old boy Ardiansyah, whose body parts were found under a bridge in Jengkol, Pulogadung in East Jakarta.

A Violent Crime Unit investigated the case and discovered body pieces and limbs of other victims in a canal in Menteng, also in East Jakarta. Baekuni was then convicted of the sexual abuse and the premeditated murder of four children, including Ardiansyah.

With the disclosure of the case, a series of other murders were also revealed, and Baekuni later admitted to have killed a total of 14 street children since 1993. All of the victims were believed to be between 6 and 12 years old, although he was not formally convicted of 10 murders.

The East Jakarta District Court decided to issue Baekuni a life-term sentence for the four murders.

"I wish for him the same, to have his body cut up into pieces as he mutilated my child," Ardiansyah's father Indra, 45, said. "But because I have to obey the law, I leave my child's case fully to the court, and I am satisfied with the court's decision," he added.

Baekuni was known to local children near his home as Babeh or Bungkik, which refers to him as being a father figure.

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