Alleged child victim testifies at Canadian teacher’s trial
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Another alleged child victim has testified at the trial of a Canadian teacher accused of sexually abusing three students at an international school in Indonesia.
The family of Neil Bantleman, who is from Burlington, Ont., told The Canadian Press that Tuesday’s court session in Jakarta lasted for more than eight hours.
The child — referred to as “MAK” — gave testimony via teleconference for more than three hours, accompanied by his father, the family’s email said.
Bantleman was arrested in July along with an Indonesian teaching assistant, and both are accused of sexually abusing three students at the Jakarta International School. Both men have maintained their innocence and the school’s principal and a number of fellow teachers also say the two are innocent.
The Canadian teacher’s wife, Tracy Bantleman, says the child who testified on Tuesday was reportedly having difficulty retelling events he previously told investigators.
Bantleman’s family has pointed out that Bantleman and the assistant, Ferdinand Tjiong, were arrested only after the parents of one of the alleged child victims failed in their efforts to reach a financial settlement with the school over alleged abuse by school janitors. The janitors have been sentenced to up to eight years in prison following their separate but related trial. Their lawyers have called their verdicts unfair.
Tracy Bantleman said testimony was also heard Tuesday from MAK’s mother, who initially made claims her son was repeatedly raped by the school janitors in March 2014. She says the mother later changed her claims to include Bantleman and Tjiong.
Video and photo evidence Bantleman’s defence team tried to introduce showed the mother — referred to as “TPW” — leading her child and police through a late-night re-enactment of the alleged crimes, pointing to show the boy where to go and directing the police, Tracy Bantleman said.
But Neil Bantleman’s brother Guy Bantleman said that when the defence tried to show that evidence, the prosecution objected and the defence team was asked to wait until later in the trial.