Oki admits to murdering his younger brother<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The sole defendant in the Los Angeles triple
\nmurder case admitted yesterday to having killed one person; his
\nyounger brother, Ery Tri Harto Dharmawan.<\/p>\n
Harnoko Dewantono, better known as Oki, told the Central
\nJakarta District Court yesterday Ery had killed the two other
\npeople, an Indian and an Indonesian woman.<\/p>\n
\"I did kill Ery, my younger brother, but I did not kill Suresh
\nGobind Mirchandani or Gina Sutan Aswar as I am charged with,\" Oki
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Oki, who is defended by Tommy Sihotang, Nurhasyim Illyas and
\nHenry Yosodiningrat told the presiding Judge I.G.K Sukarata that
\nhe withdrew his earlier statements to police.<\/p>\n
\"I confessed to the police interrogators during the
\nquestioning on Feb. 4, 1995 because I was mentally down after
\nknowing that my parents were down,\" he said when asked to explain
\nhis retraction.<\/p>\n
According to the indictment, Oki, 32, murdered his Indian
\nnational business partner Suresh G. Mirchandani on Aug. 19, 1991;
\nhis Indonesian woman friend Gina Sutan Aswar on Nov. 2, 1992 and
\nhis younger brother Ery Tri Harto Darmawan about two weeks after
\nGina. They were all slain in Los Angeles, U.S., state prosecutor
\nJ. Kamaru said.<\/p>\n
The prosecutor said all three bodies had been first stored at
\nOaks Self Storage on Van Nuys Boullevardand and later moved to U-
\nHaul locker number 109 in North Ridge. The bodies were found on
\nAug. 10, 1994, the prosecutor said.<\/p>\n
If found guilty, Oki could face at least 20 years imprisonment
\nfor premeditated murder, the prosecutor said.<\/p>\n
About 25 people attended the court hearing, which started
\nabout 11:00 a.m., an hour behind schedule.<\/p>\n
Atitie Sutan Aswar, Gina's eldest sister, attended the
\nsession.<\/p>\n
Oki told the court he was mentally unfit for yesterday's
\nsession, saying Ery's murder was haunting him. But the judges
\nproceeded with the session. It was halted for 10 minutes at the
\ndefense lawyers' request, on the grounds that Oki was mentally
\nunstable, before it proceeding again.<\/p>\n
During the session, Alboim, the deputy judge appeared upset
\nwith Oki's retraction of his statements in the dossier.<\/p>\n
\"Please be honest for the sake of justice,\" the judge said.<\/p>\n
In a previous session, a forensic expert told the court that
\nthe time element complicated the triple murder charges. Two-year-
\nold corpses, Abdul Mun'im said, presented great difficulties for
\nthose trying to determine the exact cause and time of death.<\/p>\n
Detectives and ballistic experts were also called to testify
\nat the court hearings last year.<\/p>\n
The defense lawyers have said the dossier on Oki is unclear
\nand incomplete.<\/p>\n
The trial was adjourned until Feb. 25. (11)<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/oki-admits-to-murdering-his-younger-brother-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }