Neil Bantleman waits, scared and hopeful in Indonesian jail as deadline looms

Written By Unknown on Jumat, 01 Agustus 2014 | 22.46

On Friday, outside the walls of a Jakarta jail, all Tracy Bantleman can do for her husband, a Canadian teacher detained in Indonesia for more than two weeks, is wait.

Thursday was the last day of the week Burlington man Neil Bantleman, 45, could accept visitors at the Jakarta prison where he's being held.

Tracy, as she's done for the 18 days Bantleman's been arrested during a police investigation into alleged sexual assault of students at the school they both worked at, visits her husband for as long as she can.

'He is so scared inside. He is fragile.'- Tracy BantlemanT

At 3 p.m., she's told to leave.

"Leaving is the hardest part. Having to leave you husband and knowing and hearing when you hug him, his heart is racing. And holding him  it doesn't matter. His heart rate is not going down. He is so scared inside. He is fragile," Tracy Bantleman said in a Skype interview from Jakarta late Thursday.

Vigils held

Back home in Burlington, Guy Bantleman, Neil's brother, helped organized candlelight vigils in Canada. Thursday night's 9 p.m. vigil coincided with the daily vigil outside of the Jakarta International School, where Neil and Tracy Bantleman both taught.

Two more were planed for 10 a.m. in Alberta for where the couple last lived, in Okotoksand where they previously taught at the Webber Academy, in Calgary.

So far, nineteen candles have been lit, one for each day Bantleman has been held without formal charges laid against him.

Local lawyers tell Tracy her husband can be held for 20 days without any evidence, and another 40 days more  if police have more evidence to keep the Canadian behind bars longer.

They also tell her to keep Bantleman longer, prosecutors would have needed to file a letter with the court a week ago. 

No letter has been sent to Bantleman or his lawyers. But Tracy Bantleman said, "Nothing, at this point will surprise us. We have continually hit a brick wall."

So on Thursday, the couple made plans for after his Saturday release.

So too did Ferdinand Tjiong, an Indonesian teaching assistant also arrested in the alleged sexual assault, which started in March when six cleaners were arrested for raping a young boy in March.

On July 14, Bantleman and Tjiong voluntarily went in for police questioning, but they've never left.

Tracy says her husband shares the detention cell with six other men.

Dark reality

There's a mat, a fan, a mattress on the floor, running water and a Western toilet. There's also three Chinese ­Indonesians who she says aren't sure why they're being held.

She also says there's a British man who's been there four four months. He, according to Tracy, is in jail for a bar fight.

"They go to sleep, they're hopeful. They wake up and they're in a dark reality," Tracy said.

"Can i say that they're well rested? Can I say that they're feeling safe and secure? No. It's still prison."

Tracy Bantleman said to pass the time her husband is teaching Tjiong yoga. He, in turn, is teaching Bantleman chess. They're both watching a lot of Kung­Fu movies, but there isn't much rest in a prison that holds some 100 men in one block, and 100 more facing more serious violent crimes in another.


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