Restorative Justice, Mother Of 4 In Makassar Who Stealed Cellphone To Pay For Rent And Child's Milk Freed From Lawsuits

The case of Shinta Syamsuddin, a housewife with 4 children in Makassar, South Sulawesi, was resolved by restorative justice./DOK Puspenkum AGO

MAKASSAR - The case of Shinta Syamsuddin, a housewife with 4 children in Makassar, South Sulawesi, was resolved by restorative justice. This mother was prosecuted for stealing a cellphone in the market to pay rent and buy milk for her child.

The beginning of this case when Shinta was visited by a rented owner who asked for Rp. 400 thousand because she had been in arrears for several months. The landlord asked Shinta's family to leave the rent if they didn't pay.

Sita is confused. Moreover, her husband, who works as a construction worker, does not yet have an income. At first, Shinta intended to sell her only cellphone. But the intention was canceled because the cellphone was used by their children to take turns to study online.

From there, Shinta looked for loans from neighbors and went around the Pasar Sentral New Makassar Mall. But until noon, Shinta did not get a loan of money.

When leaving the New Makassar Central market, Shinta passed the KM shop where the victim who owned the cellphone was serving buyers.

Without thinking, Shinta took her cellphone and returned to her rented house. The next day, Friday, December 3, Shinta met her friend with the initials D to borrow money as collateral for the stolen cellphone.

D then gave a loan of IDR 700 thousand. This money was then used by Shinta to pay the rent of Rp. 400 thousand. The rest is used to buy milk for the youngest child, including the needs of three other children.

Shinta was then prosecuted by the police. Shinta finally had to part with her children, including those aged 7 months.

At the Makassar Kejari, the research prosecutor examined the case files. After knowing the background of Shinta's actions, the research prosecutor together with the Head of the Makassar District Attorney's Branch at Makassar Port met with South Sulawesi's Kajati R Febrytrianto.

They requested that the case on behalf of the suspect Shinta be terminated based on restorative justice.

On March 14, the suspect Shinta and the victim were brought together. The victim, after hearing Shinta's story, immediately burst into tears and was heartened to forgive the suspect.

"Now the suspect is free without conditions after the application for termination of prosecution based on restorative justice on behalf of Shinta Syamsuddin was approved by the Deputy Attorney General for General Crimes Fadil Zumhana through a virtual exposure on Tuesday, March 22, 2022," said the Attorney General's written statement.