TV personality Dewi Sukarno ordered to pay fine over assaults

TOKYO – Dewi Sukarno, an 86-year-old Japanese TV personality and widow of Indonesia’s first president Sukarno, was ordered by a court on Oct 6 to pay a fine of 200,000 yen (S$1,617) for assaulting her former assistant and manager.In handing down the ruling at the Tokyo District Court, Judge Toshikazu Ishida said that throwing a champagne glass at the victim was dangerous and “there are no extenuating circumstances”.Prosecutors had sought the same amount.The defendant had insisted she did not throw the glass, but the court recognised the act based on video footage taken by the former manager.According to the ruling, Dewi threw a champagne glass at her then assistant at a restaurant in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward on Feb 13, 2025, and punched and kicked her then manager at an animal hospital in the ward on Oct 28 the same year.She stated her remorse during the trial. She incurred losses of about 90 million yen due to a series of appearance cancellations following the incident, according to her defence lawyer.Dewi, known as Madame Dewi in Japan, once headed a political organisation promoting the welfare of dogs and cats. She was one of numerous women to marry Sukarno. KYODO NEWS