February 26, 2026 | 01:37 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Mataram District Court in Indonesia has sentenced the two defendants in a premeditated murder case of a Spanish woman to 18 years in prison. Maria Matilde Munoz Cazorla, 73, a Spanish national, was killed in West Lombok last year.
The two defendants are Suhaeli, alias Eli, 34, and Heri Ridwan, 27. "Sentencing the first defendant Suhaeli alias Eli and the second defendant Heri Ridwan alias Heri to 18 years in prison each," said presiding judge Kelik Trimargo, on Wednesday, February 25, 2026, while the two defendants bowed their heads.
Based on the trial facts, the court considered both defendants to have carried out "beyond reasonable doubt" the premeditated murder of Maria Matilde at the Hotel Bumi Aditya, a tourist area in Senggigi, West Lombok Regency, West Nusa Tenggara.
Maria Matilde was reported missing in early July 2025. The former flight attendant was last seen at a hotel in the Senggigi area, West Lombok.
During the trial, it was revealed that the two defendants planned to steal money and valuable items from the victim, who was staying at the hotel. On July 2, 2025, they entered the victim's room while she was asleep.
They searched for money and valuable items but did not find what they were looking for. "At that moment, the sound of someone reciting the Quran from the mosque loudspeaker was heard, and the victim Maria Matilde suddenly woke up. The first defendant (Suhaeli) immediately pulled and muffled the victim's face with a towel brought from the [hotel] laundry room," said Kelik.
Suhaeli then strangled and choked the victim, and both defendants took turns pressing on the victim's neck. After ensuring the victim was defenseless, they lifted her body onto the bed and covered her with a hotel room blanket.
In their actions, the two defendants took several items belonging to the victim, namely a Samsung mobile phone, Rp3 million in cash, two ATM cards, and two foreign currency bills. To hide their crime, they moved Matilde's body to the hotel's genset room. On July 6, 2025, as the victim's body began to decompose, the two defendants moved it to the backyard of the hotel and covered it with bamboo leaves, coconut leaves, and zinc.
In early August 2025, when the police inspected the hotel where the victim had stayed, the two defendants again moved the body to an unused room in a corner of the hotel. After the police found the victim's belongings in the hotel's waste bin, they agreed to move the body again.
Borrowing a motorcycle from an acquaintance, they took the body out of the Hotel Bumi Aditya and buried it on the beach near an abandoned building still located in the Senggigi tourist area. "The two defendants dug sand by hand to a depth of about 50 centimeters and buried the victim," Kelik disclosed.
The police eventually found the body on August 30, 2025. The autopsy results at the Bhayangkara Regional Hospital of the West Nusa Tenggara Police indicated that the body was identical to that of the missing Maria Matilde. The police then arrested the two defendants.
The two defendants have yet to decide whether they would appeal the 18-year sentence. Their legal representative, Lulu Ainun Mufidah, said they both admitted and regretted their actions since the beginning of the trial.
"Both perpetrators admitted that they did it all because of financial difficulties, to pay off debts," she said.
Read: Indonesia Deports US Citizen After Bali Murder Case
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