An Indonesian court’s decision to dismiss a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against an elite international school is an encouraging sign for a Canadian teacher accused of abusing students while working there, his family said Monday.
Guy Bantleman said the reasons for dismissing the US$125-million civil action will be hard to ignore by courts reviewing his brother Neil’s appeal of a highly controversial sexual abuse conviction.
Neil Bantleman and a colleague at the Jakarta Intercultural School were accused of sexually abusing three students in 2014. Both Bantleman and Ferdinand Tjiong were convicted in April after a trial that raised international ire for presenting inconsistent and sometimes contradictory evidence.
READ MORE: Police officers investigated in case of Canadian teacher convicted in Indonesia
Bantleman is appealing his 10-year prison sentence, and his brother believes Monday’s related court decision could prove helpful in his bid to return home.
The suit filed by a student’s parents did not name Bantleman directly, but did allege repeated sexual abuse at the school where he was once employed.
Guy Bantleman said the judge dismissed the suit on a technicality, saying the plaintiffs should have named all possible defendants when they brought the suit forward.
But it’s a subsequent set of comments that’s of greatest interest to Guy Bantleman and other family members monitoring the case.
“They went on to say that the plaintiff had not proven that any of the alleged abuses had actually taken place,” Guy Bantleman said in a telephone interview. “This is, ironically, the same court that sentenced Neil back in April.”
This marks the second muted legal victory for Bantleman in as many weeks.
Earlier this month, a Singapore court ruled that one of the parents accusing Bantleman had defamed him, his colleague and the school that employed them.
The court ruled that allegations of sexual abuse could not be proven and ordered the parent to pay a total of nearly 230,000 Singapore dollars (C$219,000) in damages. The case was handled in Singapore because many of the initial allegations were made via emails, texts and other digital communications sent from that country.
Doubts about the veracity of the allegations against Bantleman surfaced during his Indonesian trial as well, prompting international observers to condemn the conviction that was eventually handed down.
Bantleman and Tjiong were found guilty despite medical reports from three different hospitals in Jakarta and Singapore showing no major injuries or abnormalities in the three children at the centre of the case.
Neil Bantleman wrote to Prime Minister Stephen Harper after being found guilty, saying the process used to convict him was corrupt and amounted to a human rights violation.
The federal government has called on Indonesia to ensure the appeal is conducted in a “fair and transparent manner” and says it continues to monitor his health and safety.
Guy Bantleman said Monday’s court ruling is a positive sign for his brother’s appeal, which is expected to be resolved by the end of the month.
“I think the higher court has to look at this. They’ve got to understand why…on the criminal side why is there a conviction and on the civil side a rejection,” he said. “I think this all has to bode well for Neil.”
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