Bekasi maid sought for murder of boss' baby

Bekasi maid sought for murder of boss' baby

JAKARTA (JP): Police are looking for a housemaid who allegedly
drowned her employers' six-month-old baby girl in the bathroom of
the family's home in Bekasi.

Bekasi Police Chief. Lt. Col. Adjie Rustam said yesterday
evening that a team of detectives had been dispatched to several
areas believed to be used as hiding places by the woman, who was
hired the day before to work in the family's residence.

"I've sent officers to arrest the suspect, who has been
described as being tall and having short hair and clean skin,"
Adjie told The Jakarta Post.

"We have found it difficult to trace her so far but we'll try
our best," the officer said, adding that the team was also
assigned to monitor bus terminals and railway stations.

Adjie said the name and hometown of the suspect, who is in her
30s, was still unclear because the victim's parents had yet to be
able to provide police with details due to their grief and shock.

"They just knew the woman for one day and hadn't fully known
who and what she was," Adjie said.

The preliminary investigation also revealed that the suspect
had allegedly taken the baby's bracelet and cash from her
employers' wardrobe.

According to eyewitnesses and forensic experts, the housemaid
allegedly strangled the baby girl with her hands while drowning
her in the bathroom's water tank on Saturday.

The body of Brigita Fika Kristiana was found in the water tank
at about 3 p.m. by her two-year-old brother, Andrias. The two
children had been left alone with the housemaid by their working
parents at their house in the Griya Asri housing complex in
Tambun's Sumber Jaya subdistrict.

Andrias' screams drew neighbors to the scene.

The neighbors informed the victim's parents of the incident
after finding that the maid had left the house.

Polite

Brigita's father, Walyono, told reporters that the housemaid
had identified herself as Yanti, of Kuningan, West Java.

He said that he hired the housemaid just a day before the
incident happened. The woman came to them based on the idea of
one of their neighbors, he said.

"She seemed to be a polite housemaid and I thought she was
mature enough to take care of my children," Walyono said
yesterday.

According to officer Adjie, the suspect told the neighbor that
she needed a job.

Kustanti, Walyono's wife, then offered to employ her without
checking the woman's background, he said.

Adjie promised to determine the real motive behind the
killing.

"It could be a robbery, but it's strange because she didn't
have to kill the baby," he said. "Or the suspect has
psychological problems."

Walyono was shocked over the death of his baby girl, saying
that he would have given all his belongings to the housemaid
rather than have her kill his child.

"Why did she kill her? Why? My baby couldn't even hit anybody,
or talk," Walyono said.

He explained that there were no signs in the morning that the
housemaid would kill Brigita when he and his wife left the house.

"It seemed to me that Yanti loved children," he said.

He hoped that police could arrest the suspect soon.

"The sooner, the better, before she does the same thing to
another baby," said Walyono.

Forensic expert Mun'im Idries of Cipto Mangunkusumo General
Hospital, who carried out the post mortem examination, said there
were wounds and bruises found all over the baby's body.

The bruises on her body don't seem like bruises found on
drowning victims," he said yesterday. (04)