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)