The wife of the man who allegedly killed his friend after catching him attempting to rape her has come forward to defend her husband.
Twenty-two-year-old Juliana from the East Java regency of Probolinggo defended her husband, 21-year-old Nanang Budianto, who allegedly stabbed his close friend, 25-year-old Slamet Widodo to death last Saturday.
She said Nanang had committed murder in order to rescue her — she alleges she was about to be raped by Slamet at the time.
Juliana alleges she was previously raped two other times in the past month by Slamet, before Saturday’s incidents.
The woman says she was sad and confused after police detained her husband and charged him with premeditated murder under Indonesia’s criminal code, which carries life imprisonment and the maximum sentence of the death penalty.
“What my husband did was necessary to protect me from Slamet’s depraved acts. I love him even more, he was willing to make a sacrifice for my sake. I love my husband and I pray that he can serve his punishment well,” Juliana said on Monday, as quoted by Detik.
Nanang, who turned himself in to the police on Saturday, admitted that he didn’t regret killing Slamet — according to him, Slamet had betrayed him by raping his wife multiple times.
“I didn’t regret taking Slamet’s life because even though he was my best friend and I trusted him, he raped my wife. It’s not once, but three times. So I had to kill him,” Nanang said during a press conference at the Probolinggo Police on Wednesday, as quoted by Detik.
Nanang set the record straight about the rumor of an affair between Slamet and Juliana, because he believes his wife has been faithful and says that there are no signs that suggested it happened. In addition, he explained that he was used to carrying a sharp weapon for protection, which he had used to stab Slamet.
Police said that on Saturday morning, Nanang went to a local market where he sold clothes, leaving his wife Juliana at home alone. Slamet went to see Juliana around this time and was about to rape her by threatening her with a knife, when Nanang unexpectedly returned home.
“During the rape attempt, [Nanang] came home and caught [Slamet]. [Nanang] took his machete and stabbed the victim with it several times. The victim died from loss of blood,” Probolinggo Police Crime Investigation Unit Head Rizki Santoso told Kompas on Sunday.
Rizki added that Nanang turned himself in soon after killing Slamet.
Based on the police’s initial investigation into the case, Slamet raped Juliana on two occasions while Nanang wasn’t at home in the past month.
Police said Nanang was not aware about the previous rapes until after he killed Slamet.
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