Adiguna trial heats up as Tinul retracts statement

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The murder trial of businessman Adiguna Sutowo at the Central Jakarta District Court took a dramatic turn on Thursday when a witness retracted her earlier statement.

Novia "Tinul" Herdiana, a 39-year-old hotel employee retracted her earlier statement to police that she had witnessed the murder and knew that Adiguna, whom she had been celebrating New Year's with, had a gun on his personage.

"I had no choice," Tinul said, when asked by judges why she had made statements to the contrary.

"I was under pressure and the police said I could be a suspect," said Tinul, who conceded her lawyer had been with her when she made the disputed police statement.

Tinul, who said she was wearing a red dress on New Year's Eve, also testified that there was only one bar bill for Rp 150,000, which she paid using her credit card, and that she knew nothing about a debit card.

The prosecution has maintained that Adiguna became enraged and shot college student Yohannes Berchmans Hairudy Natong, 25, who was on duty as a waiter at the Fluid Club on Jan. 1 because of a declined debit card payment of a Rp 150,000 bar bill.

Earlier, Werner Saferna, 39, a freelance disc jockey, told the court he saw Adiguna still aiming a silver gun shortly after the shot. Seconds later, the 46-year-old "perpetrator", the word Werner used to refer to Adiguna, pressed the gun into his right hand.

In a state of panic, Werner exited the club and rushed home. He handed the .22 caliber revolver, three bullets and one bullet shell over to the police, six days after New Year's Day.

Werner added that all nightclub patrons were supposed to pass through a metal detector. The nightclub is located in the Hilton Hotel, which is owned by the Sutowo family.

Werner, along with three bar employees on duty at the time in question, said they could easily spot Adiguna and Tinul, who were wearing white and red respectively, and were sitting on top of a table.

However, the bar employees said they could not see their faces.

The cashier told the court that Natong had handed over a debit card to be used to cover a Rp 150,000 bar bill. The cashier told Natong to return the debit card as the club did not have the proper machine to process it, while earlier in the night he had processed a separate Rp 150,000 bill charged to a credit card belonging to Tinul.

The sixth witness on Thursday, Fauzi Naro, the club's disc jockey at that time, said that Adiguna had been wearing a long- sleeved white shirt and was accompanied by Tinul, dressed in red.

Although Tinul's testimony was the only one verified by Adiguna, the prosecution asked the judges if the court would consider hearing Tinul at a later date to determine the validity of her sworn testimony, insinuating perjury.

Presiding judge Lilik Mulyadi said that the court would settle the issue of Tinul's retraction after hearing all 19 witnesses in the case, nine of whom have been called.

Adiguna is being charged with unpremeditated murder, which is punishable with up to 15 years' imprisonment, and owning an illegal firearm, which law carries a life sentence.