Baskoni the real suspect, police finally say

Baskoni the real suspect, police finally say

JAKARTA (JP): City police finally announced yesterday that
Baskoni Wahab, a 63-year-old high school teacher who has been in
police custody for four days, is the only suspect in the murder
of a senior police officer in East Jakarta last week.

"Now we have come to the final conclusion that he is the only
suspect based on the confession made by him as well as
information from witnesses and all evidence available," head of
the General Crime Section of the City Police Headquarters Lt.
Col. Gories Mere told reporters.

Since the arrest of Baskoni, who is also a manager of an
educational foundation, on Tuesday morning, none of the city
police officers had been willing to make a formal statement on
the results of the interrogation of the suspect, giving rise to
speculations that he was not the real murderer.

Mere, who was directly involved in the investigation, said
that Baskoni is the single suspect in the fatal stabbing of the
newly-appointed head of the Pademangan police precinct, Maj.
Noenang Kohar, 38, who was wearing civilian clothes when the
incident took place last Friday.

The killing, he said, was a spontaneous act and not
premeditated as many had presumed. He said it was began after a
minor accident between a bajaj (a small three-wheeled transport
vehicle) Baskoni rode in and the Daihatsu Taft jeep driven by
Noenang.

Mere added, however, that there were still some discrepancies
between the confession made by Baskoni and the statement of the
bajaj driver, who is the key witness in the case.

He also confirmed that police detectives had earlier
apprehended the wrong person, identified as Iwan, whom they
thought was the bajaj driver.

He said that the real driver, identified as Warkam, was found
on Wednesday in Indramayu, West Java.

Mere quoted Warkam as saying that Baskoni swore at Noenang,
calling him "a dog and pig" when the police officer's jeep
brushed against the bajaj and that Baskoni told Warkam to
continue driving when Noenang asked them to stop.

After blocking the path of the bajaj, Noenang quickly got out
of his car and confronted Baskoni, Mere quoted the key witness as
telling him.

"The bajaj driver confessed that he didn't know or hear what
was happening between the two until he saw Noenang fall down
bleeding."

Meanwhile, Baskoni's lawyers from Jakarta's Legal Aid
Institute earlier quoted their client as saying during police
questioning that the crash occurred after the Taft jeep tried to
pass the bajaj on the left side -- a violation of the traffic
law.

When the accident occurred, Baskoni shouted obscene words at
Noenang which might have incurred the wrath of the officer who
then chased after the small vehicle and stopped it, the lawyers
said.

Baskoni said Noenang rushed from his car and slapped his face.
He then got out of the bajaj and demanded to know why Noenang had
slapped him. An infuriated Noenang allegedly told Baskoni that he
was offended by Baskoni's obscenities.

Apparently Noenang moved to slap Baskoni again, but Baskoni
quickly took out a knife and stabbed the unsuspecting officer in
the left side of his chest, said the lawyers, adding that Baskoni
was not aware that the victim was a police officer. (bsr)