JAKARTA, Indonesia — An Indonesian court has found Burlington, Ont., teacher Neil Bantleman guilty of child sexual abuse and sentenced him to 10 years in prison Thursday.
He was arrested last July along with an Indonesian teaching assistant and accused of sexually abusing three students at the Jakarta International School.
The charges against both Bantleman and Ferdinant Tijong could have brought a maximum of 15 years in prison, and prosecutors were seeking a 12-year sentence.
Prosecutors told reporters after a hearing last month that heavy sentences were being sought because as teachers, Bantleman and Tijong had traumatized the victims.
Bantleman's brother, Guy, told The Canadian Press in a telephone interview that the case has been "shrouded in secrecy (and) a lack of transparency."
"The judge basically threw out every piece of evidence, every witness that the defence put up through the case."
Guy Bantleman added that the verdict and sentence "falls into line with everything we've had to go through with this entire case" and said he believed this was "merely a hearing to get to a guilty verdict."
He said there would be an appeal to the Superior Court level in Jakarta, and if that failed, they would appeal to the Supreme Court level.
"That's something that we'll have to figure out over the next couple of weeks."
He said he spoke to Bantleman's wife, Tracy, after the verdict and sentence and said they both were "amazed at just how incompetent the entire system seems to be."
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The judge basically threw out every piece of evidence that the defence raised, the expert witnesses ... it's mind-boggling. There hasn't been a piece of evidence that has actually proven anything."
In December, five janitors at the school arrested in the same case were sentenced to up to eight years in jail. Police said a sixth suspect in that group committed suicide while in custody by drinking bathroom cleanser.
The Jakarta International School is attended by children of foreign diplomats, expatriates and Indonesia's elite. It has 2,400 students aged three to 18 from about 60 countries.
Guy Bantleman said this has been a trying time for all involved.
"You have to kind of soldier on."
— With files from Alan Black in Toronto
