Adiguna Sutowo named sole suspect in shooting of waiter

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta Police has named Adiguna Sutowo as the sole suspect in a fatal shooting early on Saturday at the Hilton Hotel's Fluid Club.

Yohanes Berchmans Haerudy Natong, or Rudy, a waiter at the club, was killed in the incident.

City police chief of detectives Sr. Comr. Mathius Salempang announced the suspect on Sunday, adding that the police had detained Adiguna, a son of the former president director of state oil and gas company Pertamina, Ibnu Sutowo.

"The suspect did not confess until today, but we have strong evidence in this case. We are keeping him in our custody," Salempang told the press.

Police grilled Adiguna from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. over 25 independent points.

Salempang said investigators had also questioned two eyewitnesses who apparently saw Adiguna shoot Rudy in the head.

Adiguna's lawyer Amir Karyatin said his client refused to sign the case file, saying that he did not kill the waiter.

Amir claimed that Adiguna had instead helped Rudy, taking the injured waiter to the hotel's health clinic. The lawyer also said his client was not at the Fluid Club, but at the Laguna Lounge.

The incident allegedly took place at 3:30 a.m. after the New Year celebration. Witnesses said Adiguna quarreled with Rudy, who was a trainee waiter, when Rudy told him that his credit card had been rejected and asked for another one.

The suspect reportedly took out a gun and shot Rudy, who died instantly from a cranial wound that entered his right temple and exited on the left side of his neck.

The case was previously being handled by the Central Jakarta Police, but the Jakarta Police took over it due to the sensitive and high-profiled nature of the case.

Salempang said Adiguna was drunk when he pulled the trigger. "He is still under the influence of alcohol."

He said the police had found a bullet in Rudy's body and two bloodstained towels in Adiguna's hotel room.

"We have sent the evidence to the National Police forensics department for analysis," he said.

Rudy, the eldest of seven children of Alfons da Gomez and Mariam, was a student at Bung Karno University, and was to graduate in April.

He had been working for a month at the hotel, making a living to support himself and two younger sisters, who share a rented house in the capital.

Rudy's body was flown on Sunday to his hometown in Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, for burial.