Adiguna rejects allegations

Adiguna rejects allegations

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Businessman Adiguna Sutowo, the only suspect for the murder of
Hilton Hotel barman Johannes Berchmans Herudy Natong, denied any
role in his killing on Thursday.

"I did not shoot Rudy," he said during his trial at the
Central Jakarta District Court on Thursday.

Several key witnesses had told the court earlier that they saw
Adiguna, the youngest brother of Hilton co-owner Ponco Sutowo,
shoot and kill Johannes, nicknamed Rudy, with a .22-caliber
revolver in the Hilton's Fluid Bar on Jan. 1.

Adiguna also denied ever owning a silver Smith And Wesson
airlite pistol, which key witness Werner "Wewen" Saferna handed
over to police authorities days after the shooting, arguing that
his weapon of choice was a black colt handgun.

"At the time I was arrested, the gun's license had already
expired. I guess that's why police kept on asking me about
illegal gun possession. But, they didn't ask me anything about
the murder," said the 46-year-old man.

He also told the panel of three judges, presided by Lilik
Muryadi, that he had no idea where the 19 bullets taken from his
hotel room came from.

Adiguna, who earlier claimed he had handled firearms since
high school, said he had heard the sound of an explosion while he
was in the bar but could not recognize whether it was a gun or a
balloon bursting.

When asked by judges about the bloodstains on hotel towels of
Room 1564, where he was staying on New Year's Eve, he said that
it came from a nosebleed he had suffered.

"On New Year's Eve, my nose was bleeding since dinner, so I
used the towels to wipe the blood running down my nose," he said,
adding that he used them when he returned to his room early
morning of Jan. 1 after searching for his son in the Fluid Bar
and Lounge at the Hilton Hotel.

Adiguna, however, admitted that he sat on the counter of the
bar for about five minutes, but denied he saw anyone getting
hurt.

"Eighty percent of my focus was on finding my kid, that's why
I sat on the counter to find higher place to see my son among the
crowd. I didn't notice anyone else around the counter," he told
chief prosecutor Andi Herman.

However, Adiguna then gave conflicting statements about how he
helped carry the victim to the hotel clinic. When asked by judge
Agus Subroto, he first said that he had never touched Rudy's
body. He had only told a group of people who were carrying Rudy
to go to the hotel clinic instead of calling an ambulance, he
said.

But, when asked by another judge, Mulyani, he said that he
held Rudy's leg, when he helped carry the victim toward the
hotel's clinic along with other people he did not recognize.

"Yes, I held his leg but not in the way that I actually
carried him. It was because I wanted to show that I was actively
helping a wounded man. When they arrived in front of the clinic,
I left them and went straight to my room," he said.

When confronted with witnesses testimonies saying that he
helped carry Rudy by holding the victim's neck, he rejected them.

"The witnesses' testimonies are not true," he said.

Chief prosecutor Andi Herman said his team was optimistic that
he could prove the crime.

"It is the defendant's right either to confirm or to deny
witnesses' testimonies, but we have sufficient evidence to prove
that he is guilty," Andi said. (006)