Aussies accused of kidnapping released on bail
Aussies accused of kidnapping released on bail
JAKARTA (JP): The city prosecutor's office released on bail on Friday two Australian private detectives and a German woman who were arrested last year for allegedly abducting her children from a house in East Jakarta.
Defense lawyer for the suspects, Gunawan Suryoputro, was quoted by Reuter as saying yesterday that the three are now staying at a hotel in downtown Kota.
"They are in Jakarta and their status is that of city detainees. I have guaranteed the prosecutor's office through a letter that the foreigners will not run away," the lawyer said.
He did not mentioned the amount of bail.
When contacted by The Jakarta Post yesterday, spokesmen of the city prosecutor's office and police headquarters insisted that they knew nothing about the matter.
The City Prosecutor's office spokesman Petrus Sambara commented: "I have never heard of the case but I'll check up on it at first chance tomorrow."
According to Petrus, his office is only allowed to release a suspect on bail if he or she has never been in police custody before.
City Police spokesman Lt. Col. Bambang Haryoko said: "I really have no idea about the latest on the case but by law, anybody suspected in a case with a penalty of less than five years in jail can be released on bail."
If found guilty, a kidnapper under such circumstances may face a maximum prison term of seven years.
The two private detectives are Australian Michael Martino, 30, and New Zealander Davies Maymehm, 29, from the Perth-based Protective Services International.
The two, who were allegedly hired by the children's mother, Birgit Dorothea Helmer, 33, tried to kidnap Yan Floyd Town, six, and his brother Nick Floyd Town, four, at the house of a friend of their father Malcolm John Town, 48, in East Jakarta.
The three, along with a local, were arrested by police detectives from the City Police Headquarters later at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport as they attempted to leave the country with the children.
Following their arrest, the two detectives were detained at the police headquarters while the woman was under the supervision of counseling staff from the German embassy here.
When the kidnapping took place on Dec. 13, the boys' father was on a business trip to the popular tourist resort of Bali.
According to Birgit, a successful private businesswoman, she has an Australian court ruling which states that she is entitled to raise the children.
Malcolm has said that the ruling is not valid outside Australia as it was made after he took the children out of the country.
The couple separated three years ago in Perth.
"Because she had a boyfriend," Malcolm claimed. "After the separation, she lived with her boyfriend in Vancouver, Canada, and never sent letters or Christmas cards to our two boys," he said.
In an effort to take possession of her sons, Birgit also hired a local ex-Air Force officer with A$2,500 to facilitate the kidnapping.
The officer, identified as Dwi Putranto, 30, was still being detained by city police.
"He has no lawyer to represent him," Suryoputro said. (bsr)