TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Susana Theresia Naisoko almost could not help becoming emotional as she explained what happened to her neighbor back in November 2015. "She was beaten up so badly she had to be taken to the hospital," Susana told journalists at the base of the Alfa Group of Central Kefamenanu, North Central Timor regency.

The victim's mother reached out to Santri Susana's nickname for help in the wake of the beating. The mother was the one who found her daughter face down on the lawn, motionless, her body bathed in blood.

At the hospital, one nurse said it was unlikely the woman would survive. "Her body was in really bad shape," Santri said. A local priest was summoned to administer the final rites.

To the surprise of many, the woman survived. Several days later, the perpetrator of the violence the victim's husband was arrested. He had attempted to flee the district. The families of both parties agreed to reconcile, and the couple 'reunited'.

"All legal proceedings were terminated," Santri said, her eyes downcast. She said such heartbreaking tales of de facto impunity were widespread.

"We once helped a woman who was wounded badly by her husband who had used a sharp weapon against her," added Kanisius Nino, chair of the Kuanek village paralegal team.

He said the victim's husband slashed her with a machete on the head and on the arm. "As a man, I cannot imagine how a husband could have committed such a crime," he added, wiping tears from his eyes. The abuser, he said, remained at large.

Maria Detilda Eko, 35, a paralegal from Maubesi, Central Insana subdistrict, relayed another, no less bitter story about a 14-year-old rape victim. When the teenager was seven months pregnant, her family went to the headquarters of the Maubesi paralegal team to seek help. Maria and her friends assisted the family in filing a report with the police. "The perpetrator was eventually arrested and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment," Maria said. (*)

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