The Murder Trial of Mr.
Hans
The following is a part of scene in court house in a city in Indonesia. The defendant, Mr. John, has been ch
arge with murder. He was accused of murdering Mr. Hans by pushing the victim from the balcony down to
the swimming pool in his yard. Many people were present in the court house including the prosecutor, the d
efendant and his defence lawyer, the judge and some law students.
Prosecutor : Mr. John, did you push Mr. Hans off the balcony of your house?
John : No, I didn’t.
Prosecutor : The body was found in the swimming pool of your house. According to the medical
report, he died because of drowning.
John : He died in my swimming pool, all right. But I did not push him into it. He might have
been attacked something, who knows?
Prosecutor : Did he come to your house that night?
John : Yes, he did.
Prosecutor : Was he alone or was he accompanied by some friends?
John : He was alone.
Prosecutor : What was the purpose of the visit?
John : He asked me for money. He said he borrowed money from a number of people and that
night he was chased by creditors.
Prosecutor : Did he ever borrow money from you?
John : He never borrowed money from me; he only asked for it from me.
Prosecutor : Will you explain this nature of his visit that night?
John : Well, Mr. Hans looked drunk. There was something strange in his eye. So I just left him
and went into my room. I was always left him alone whenever he came to me drunk.
Then… that night, after a few minutes, all I knew…He was dead in the swimming pool.
During the trial, a physician from General Hospital was summoned to give a complete medical report on the
victim. The doctor was also asked to form an opinion based on his profession as a medical doctor. Accordin
g to a doctor, the victim was under a heavy dose of narcotics when he came to see Mr. John on the balcony t
hat night. That was why he was a little shaky and strange. At that time the victim was in a ‘fly drunken’ stat
e. Because of the sense of fly, he jumped by himself into the swimming pool and hit his head against the sid
e of the pool. This was proven by the fact that there isn’t indication of anybody pushing him from the balco
ny down into the pool. At the end of the session, the death of Mr. Hans was ruled accident by the presiding j
udge
I. Read the dialog thoroughly and answer these questions.
1. Who are present in the court house?
2. Who are Mr. John and Mr. Hans?
3. What is the relationship between Mr. John and Mr. Hans?
4. Why did the victim come to see Mr. John ?
5. What did the medical report show?
6. How did Mr. Hans die ?
7. Why was the victim in a fly-drunken state ?
8. Did Mr. Hans always borrow money from Mr. John ?
9. How was the death of Mr. Hans ruled by the judge ?
