Testimonium De Auditu in The Case Rape of Childrens

According to the definition of witness testimony in Article 1 number 27 of the Criminal Procedure Code which states that "Witness testimony is a type of the evidences in a criminal case in the form of information given by a witness regarding a criminal case which the witness hears, sees, and experiences himself by stating the reasons for his knowing. A judge can impose a sentence on a person, if the judge has at least two valid pieces of evidence as stated in Article 183 of the Criminal Procedure Code. However, in handling cases of child sexual abuse, most of the witnesses presented in the trial include hearsay evidence or it can be called as a testimony obtained from other people.This study aimed to determine the strength of a hearsay evidence given by a witness in a crime of child sexual abuse and to explain the judge’s consideration regarding the hearsay evidence in imposing a sentence of child sexual abuse crime The data of this study were obtained through a literature review and an interview with the informants.This normative legal research was conducted by means of a literature approach, particularly by understanding books and interviewing several academics in the field of criminal law, as well as studying laws and regulations and other documents related to this research.The research found that the strength of a hearsay evidence was stated in the Constitutional Court Decision Number 65/PUU-VIII/2010 in this criminal trial as a real effort to protect the rights of the suspects and defendants. In addition, the judge's consideration regarding the hearsay evidence could be seen by the fact that the evidence was not completely rejected by the judge. Although the testimony given by the witness was not valid as a evidence, it was useful as a guide in handling the case.Therefore, it is recommended to develop the results of the Constitutional Court Decision Number 65/PUU-VIII/2010 regarding the hearsay evidence that can be used by judges and qualified as a free evidence (vrij bewijskracht). Moreover, the relevant agencies are hoped to keep being thoughtful in implementing laws and deciding every case, especially related to the hearsay evidence, so that the principle of justice can be achieved.Kata kunci: Keterangan Saksi, Pemerkosaan Anak, Testimonium De Auditu.Rape is a form of sexual deviation carried out with violence in the form of forced intercourse. Every act that violates the law must be severely punished, in this case, the role of law enforcers is required to be professional in resolving cases of rape to obtain justice. Judges as one of the law enforcement officers in Indonesia must be able to do justice in handling a case because judges have been given the authority to examine and decide a case. The judge to decide the case fairly must examine the data received during the trial process, which can be seen from the evidence of letters, witnesses, confessions, and oaths in the trial. Evidence in the form of witness statements is very commonly used as a settlement of criminal cases, the information given by witnesses is intended to find out whether an act has indeed occurred a criminal act committed by the defendant. The testimony of a witness referred to in deciding a case must come from a witness who heard and saw the incident itself. The role of witnesses in every criminal case, especially cases of child rape, is very important because a witness's testimony can influence and determine the judge's decision. For witness statements and testimonies to have value and strength of evidence (the degree of evidence), it is necessary to pay attention to several basic requirements that must be met by a witness. The strength of the testimony using de auditu testimony witnesses as evidence is not the same as direct witnesses or so-called fact witnesses in cases that use de auditu testimony witnesses will be more difficult for judges in making decisions because judges need to consider and assess the strength of testimony de auditu witnesses. The purpose of this study is to explain the strength of the evidence of Testimonium De Auditu in Jarimah on child rape. This type of research is called normative juridical law research, with a legal approach, which consists of primary, secondary, tertiary legal materials obtained by a series of activities related to the methods of collecting library data, reading, and recording, and processing research materials.Keywords: Witness Statement, Child Rape, Testimonium De Auditu