Mastermind: Ex-Police Ferdy Sambo Faces Life Imprisonment for Orchestrating Murder

Liputan6.com, Jakarta - Former police Ferdy Sambo (49) was found guilty for his role as a mastermind in the killing of his young subordinate, Brigadier Nofriansyah Yoshua Hutabarat or Brigadier J (27). Ferdy Sambo was found directing the murder, including in creating a scenario to mislead the investigation. 

The murder took place in Sambo's home in South Jakarta on 8 July 2022. Sambo was a successful police inspector general, and the murder has received a glaring observation from the public and police critics.

The prosecutors at the court in South Jakarta gave life imprisonment as punishment for Sambo. The case also involved his wife, Putri Candrawathi (49), and his other subordinates.

The Deathly Scenario

In the first months after the murder, the public received various conflicting narratives, including that Brigadier J was harassing the wife of Sambo. The wife was screaming and a young police officer Richard Eleizer (24) rushed to help her.

During the confrontation, Brigadier J was said to resist Eleazar, and there was a crossfire between Brigandier J versus Eleazar and Sambo. Brigadier J was shot, and therefore it was self-defense.

According to the court, Ferdy Sambo did decide to kill after receiving information from his wife about Brigadier J's misbehavior. After that, Ferdy set up a plan kill Brigadier J. He also asked another police officer, Ricky Rizal, to back him up in case Brigadier J resisted. 

However, the prosecutor found the wife lied about the harassment from Brigadier J. Instead, she was having an affair with the younger man.

The crossfire did not take place either. Sambo shot the wall to create an impression as if there was a fighting, and he invented the story that his wife was screaming. On top of that, Sambo shot Brigadier J twice to make sure he really died.

It was found that Rizky Rizal refused to help the murder when Sambo asked him. Sambo disatisfied with the answer, and he asked Eleazar whether he could help, the young police said he would do it. Eleazar was receiving a guarantee from Sambo that he would be protected as long as Sambo himself was free. 

Previously, Putri Candrawathi said she was raped and physically abused by Brigadier J. Ferdy Sambo trusted his wife's words.

"That I believe to be true, your honor," said Sambo at the court, a few days before sentencing.

"Because my wife was impossible to lie about such incident, what would she gain from that?" argued Sambo.

However, Sambo admitted guilt. He claimed that he did not act logically. 

"I feel guilty because emotion eclipsed my logic. I conveyed this feeling of guilt, and the foremost regret for the victim's family, because I was emotional, and then led to the death of the son of Yosua's family," said Sambo.

He also expressed regret for involving Eliezer in the case, because he gave the order. He also apologized for his other subordinates, Ricky and Kuat Ma'ruf.

Kuat Ma'ruf was Sambo's driver. He helped Sambo by closing the escape route from Brigadier J.

Sambo also apologized to his wife for involving her in his murderous scenario.

Both Ricky Rizal and Kuat Ma'ruf received eight years from the prosecutor. Eliezer and Putri will be convicted on Wednesday.

Ady Anugrahadi contributed to this report.