Bambu Apus massacre reenacted
Bambu Apus massacre reenacted
JAKARTA (JP): The reconstruction of a multiple murder, said to
be one of Jakarta's most brutal crimes, took place at the scene
of the crime at Bambu Apus in East Jakarta under tight security
yesterday morning.
The fear of an angry mob attacking the suspects in the killing
of a housewife and her three young children proved to be
unnecessary due to the well-prepared arrangements by the local
police precinct. As many as 168 police officers and soldiers
secured the area.
Hundreds of people, mostly local residents, shouted angrily at
the five suspects as they passed down the small street from the
police car to the victims' house in Bambu Apus.
The suspects waved in response to the crowd's calls, as if
they were responding to well-wishers.
All of the suspects demonstrated how they mutilated the
children and wife of Rohadi in early October.
Anger
The murder was allegedly plotted by Philipus Kia Lanjar, a
security guard at a private school. He later allegedly asked his
wife, two sons and a nephew to help him commit the crime. The
three boys are less than 15 years old.
Yesterday's re-enactment showed that the motive for the
killing was anger. Philipus was upset with Rohadi's children who
had frequently destroyed the cassava trees he planted next to the
victims' house.
At around 9 a.m. of Oct. 2, the five suspects went to the
victims' house, allegedly bringing sharp weapons with them.
Philipus then instructed his cohorts to pretend to work the
land around the cassava trees, waiting for the right moment.
A few minutes later, Ely, Rohadi's wife, left her house with
her eight-month-old child, Erika, to buy peanuts.
After Ely was out of sight, Philipus and his group entered the
house.
He and the three young suspects, with the help of his wife,
Suparmi, reportedly brutally stabbed Gilang, 8, Citra Utami, 4,
and Rizki, 3.
As Ely opened the door to her house with Erika in her arms,
the suspects held her mouth closed, pushed her down to the floor
and reportedly stabbed her more than a dozen times.
After washing the bloody weapons, Philipus then opened a
cupboard and searched for the family's land certificate which he
found in a cardboard folder.
The killing was solved after the forensic police found
Philipus' bloody fingerprints on a piece of paper in the folder.
Canceled
"Everything has been completed now and we hope that the
dossiers of this case can be submitted to the Prosecutor's Office
next week at the latest," Mere told reporters after the
reconstruction.
The police tried to carry out the reconstruction two weeks ago
but canceled because of the hordes of people waiting at the site.
A month ago, fearing an angry mob at the scene, the police
carried out a similar reconstruction of the killing at the East
Jakarta police precinct.
The Prosecutor's Office refused the resulting dossier, saying
that the reconstruction at the police precinct was not in line
with the law.
Several days after the police named the Philipus Kia family as
the suspects in the killing of their neighbors, an angry mob
attacked the Philipus' house and burned a nearby house which
belonged to their relatives.
According to officer Mere, the police have charged Philipus, a
security officer of a private school, for premeditated murder for
which he will face the death penalty or life imprisonment if
found guilty.
The three young suspects, who were led by Philipus, may be
given special treatment due to being minors.
Nina V. Lemos, one of Philipus lawyers from the O.C. Kaligis &
Associate law firm, told The Jakarta Post yesterday that his
client was very upset to see his dying cassava trees about three
weeks before committing the crime. (bsr)