Sumanto of Purbalingga

May 16th, 2012, in Featured, News, by

Sumanto the cannibal as he is today, at residence in a Purbalingga pesantren.

Sumanto, born in 1972, was sentenced to five years imprisonment in 2003 after having been convicted of digging up the body of a relative who had just been laid to rest, and feasting on her remains. Sumanto appears to have believed eating human flesh would give him supernatural powers. He was given remissions while in prison, and released early, in 2006.

Since his release he has been living at an Islamic boarding school near the town of Purbalingga, where he hails from.

Intrepid British travellers Rhys and Ivan visited Sumanto there recently, and sent in to IM these happy snaps:

Rhys recounts that the scar on Sumanto’s forehead is self inflicted, after many hours banging his head in prison on his cell wall in order to

punish his cellmates to stop them from being cruel

and says further that Sumanto appears to be a harmless fellow, his fame exploited by those around him for financial gain, while he is forced to sleep on a filthy mattress in a small outbuilding.


7 Comments on “Sumanto of Purbalingga”

  1. Chris says:

    Sumanto appears to be a harmless fellow, his fame exploited by those around him for financial gain, while he is forced to sleep on a filthy mattress in a small outbuilding.

    Sumanto reportedly earned a cool Rp50 million (around $US5000 at the then exchange rate) from selling the rights for a movie of his story:
    Kanibal Sumanto movie poster
    Where did all that money go, I wonder… Legal fees? Restitution to the victim’s family?

  2. paul says:

    Why doesn’t Indonesia educate their people such as this madman….there are so many backward thinking people in Indonesia..Clerics aren’t much help.

  3. krisnanto says:

    apa kabar sumanto?

  4. Chris says:

    By the way, Sumanto isn’t Indonesia’s only grave robber:

    Grisly find reveals Indonesia’s fixation with black magic

  5. Riki Purnomoz says:

    There are so many Sumanto in europe and north america, maybe in australia as well.

  6. madrotter says:

    My favorite dish is Javanese liver, with a bit of garlic and a nice Gianti, slllissllliss….

  7. eko susilo says:

    Sumanto is wonge dewek… 😀

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