Claims emerge of 'secret sex room' at top Jakarta school

An international school in Indonesia has been accused of drugging and raping children as young as five, hiring pedophiles and trying to cover the whole thing up.

Jakarta International School has been embroiled in allegations of gang rape and the video taping of abuse after the parents of a five-year-old boy alleged that cleaners in the school toilets had anally raped him.

The parents of the child say that he became increasingly aggressive, and started having night terrors in which he screamed, “Please don’t hurt me, please let me go”, according to The Independent.

The school educates more than 2000 children and is one of Asia’s top schools. The allegations shocked the rich ex pat community to which is partially serves.

A medical exam of the boy was said to have revealed anal infections, pus and lesions.

Six cleaning contractors were arrested with four of the five men later admitting to the abuse.

They later retracted their statements, saying they were obtained under torture, The Independent said.

The fifth man died in custody from an apparent suicide.

A second allegation came when another mother claimed her son had also been attacked by cleaners, but had managed to fight them off.

The mother alleges that her son’s abusers were school administrator Neil Bantleman and Indonesian teacher’s assistant Ferdinand Tjiong. They deny the allegations.

The parents of the first child who initially made the first allegation against staff launched a $14 million lawsuit just as details emerged that US paedophile William Vahey had worked at the school from 1992 to 2002.

The mother said her son was drugged and assaulted up to 20 times by multiple people, often on camera and then threatened with death if he told anyone about the rapes.

In late May, the parents increased their claim to $142 million, saying the money would be used to care for their son for the rest of his life.

All three parents then claimed that other teaching staff were involved alongside the cleaning staff already arrested.

The Wall Street Journal released a series of documents that purported to show claims by the alleged first victim of secret rooms contained somewhere in the school and a device call the “magic stone”, which was used to anaesthetise the children before the abuse.

The same documents also identified eight other boys who were allegedly abused this year at the school.

The school said it was co-operating fully with police, but suggested that the abuse claims had been planted into the children’s heads.

Headteacher Timothy Carr told the Wall Street Journal: “How credible were those original allegations when they were delivered by someone who has changed their story so dramatically over time?”

The teaching staff involved are counter suing the parents for defamation, amid claims by the mothers of the alleged victims that the school is covering up the abuse.

The school is now holding weekly vigils, attended by some parents, in support of the staff members, and a petition to release them has gained more than 10,000 signatures.

Morning news break - October 28