Close X
Saturday, November 30, 2024
ADVT 
National

Family Of Canadian Held In Indonesia Hopes Related Ruling Will Help Man's Case

The Canadian Press, 06 Aug, 2015 11:02 AM
  • Family Of Canadian Held In Indonesia Hopes Related Ruling Will Help Man's Case
The family of a Canadian teacher imprisoned in Indonesia on much criticized child-abuse convictions is hoping a related ruling from a court in the neighbouring country of Singapore will help his case.
 
Neil Bantleman is currently serving a 10-year sentence after an Indonesian court found him and a co-worker guilty of abusing children at the elite international school that employed them.
 
Bantleman's brother said a mother of one of the alleged victims levelled many of her accusations at the start of the case in the form of emails, text messages and other digital communication sent from Singapore.
 
As a result, Guy Bantleman says his brother, his co-worker and their employer filed a defamation lawsuit against the woman in Singapore.
 
He says the court found that accusations of sexual abuse levelled by the mother regarding her son could not be proven, found that the mother had defamed the men and the school and ordered the mother to pay a total of nearly 230,000 Singapore dollars ($219,000) in damages.
 
"The court said there was no evidence to support the allegations of the mother and in reality there were more communications that actually said the mother and child indicated no sort of physical abuse," Bantleman's brother said.
 
"We hope the courts in Indonesia have taken note of what the courts in Singapore have ruled."
 
Neil Bantleman's family has called the case against the 46-year-old Burlington, Ont., man a surreal one.
 
He and a teaching assistant were both working at the Jakarta Intercultural School when they were arrested last July following reports from parents of a six-year-old boy who claimed to have been sodomized. Police had already arrested five janitors who worked at the school on charges of child sexual assault in relation to the case.
 
Bantleman and the teaching assistant, Ferdinant Tjiong, were then charged with sexually abusing three children at the school, underwent a trial that saw conflicting evidence, and were eventually convicted in April.
 
Both men maintained their innocence throughout and frequently voiced criticisms about the fairness and transparency of the trial which saw medical reports from three different hospitals in Jakarta and Singapore show no major injuries or abnormalities in the three children at the centre of the case.
 
Bantleman filed an appeal, which is expected to be ruled on at the end of this month.
 
His family hopes the positive court ruling from Singapore might have some impact on the outcome of his Indonesian legal battle.
 
"Obviously we're talking about two different countries, what happens in Singapore doesn't mean it's going to follow through in Indonesia," Bantleman's brother said. "But I think it does point the courts in Indonesia in a direction that says listen, 'we've looked at this information and find a very different outcome of what happened.'"
 
Bantleman wrote to Prime Minister Stephen Harper after being found guilty in Indonesia, saying the process used to convict him was corrupt and amounted to a human rights violation.
 
The federal government has called on Indonesia to ensure the appeal is conducted in a "fair and transparent manner'' and says it continues to monitor Bantleman's health and safety.

MORE National ARTICLES

Police Issued More Than 1,700 Tickets Over Improper Use Of Pan Am HOV Lanes

Police Issued More Than 1,700 Tickets Over Improper Use Of Pan Am HOV Lanes
TORONTO — Officers patrolling Toronto-area highways handed out 1,735 tickets for improper use of the controversial temporary high-occupancy lanes set up on for the Pan Am Games, police said Thursday.

Police Issued More Than 1,700 Tickets Over Improper Use Of Pan Am HOV Lanes

U.S. Hunter Who Killed African Lion In Alberta Records For A Mule Deer

U.S. Hunter Who Killed African Lion In Alberta Records For A Mule Deer
EDMONTON — There appears to be a Canadian connection to a U.S. hunter at the centre of a social media storm for killing a protected lion in Africa.

U.S. Hunter Who Killed African Lion In Alberta Records For A Mule Deer

Drought Prompts B.C. First Nations Group To Close Central Interior Fishery

Drought Prompts B.C. First Nations Group To Close Central Interior Fishery
KELOWNA, B.C. — Drought conditions in British Columbia have forced the closure of another fishery in the province's southern Interior.

Drought Prompts B.C. First Nations Group To Close Central Interior Fishery

Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh Holds Pakistan Responsible For Dinanagar Attack

  Holding Pakistan responsible for the July 27 Dinanagar terror attack, union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said any attack by enemies will meet an effective and forceful response from the Indian security forces.

Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh Holds Pakistan Responsible For Dinanagar Attack

Dutch Police Release Edmonton Murder Suspect Omar. J. Elkadry From Caribbean Island Jail

Dutch Police Release Edmonton Murder Suspect Omar. J. Elkadry From Caribbean Island Jail
In early June, Dutch authorities on the island of Saba arrested the man as a suspect in the death of the woman, whose body was found in April.

Dutch Police Release Edmonton Murder Suspect Omar. J. Elkadry From Caribbean Island Jail

Trial Off Until Next May For Man Charged In 2012 Quebec Election-night Shooting

Trial Off Until Next May For Man Charged In 2012 Quebec Election-night Shooting
MONTREAL — There has been yet another delay in the trial for the man charged in Quebec's 2012 election-night shooting.

Trial Off Until Next May For Man Charged In 2012 Quebec Election-night Shooting