'Bekasi robbery-rape case engineered'

JAKARTA (JP): A police source speculates that the farmhouse manager's wife who was allegedly sexually assaulted during two different robberies at a Bekasi farmhouse planned the incidents over a marital dispute.

The officer, who asked for anonymity, said yesterday that the wife might have been upset by the husband's plan to marry another girl.

"This probably led her to plot the crimes, and the sexual assaults were made-up stories," the officer told The Jakarta Post.

He said that Yanto, the farmhouse manager, planned to marry a 17-year-old girl. Yan -- his second wife -- who is living with Yanto in the farmhouse in Cimuning village, was enraged by her husband's plan.

"Yan and a man believed to be well-informed about the plan are still under intensive interrogation," the source said.

"However, the investigation is going on. It remains unclear what the real motive for the plot is," the source said.

When asked for confirmation, city police Spokesman Lt. Col. Iman Haryatna said: "The investigation is still going on, and we hope the Cimuning cases could be solved in the next few days."

The two robberies reportedly took place at the farmhouse in the early hours of Jan. 30 and July 3. Yanto Sugianto, 34, his wife, 27, identified only as Yan, and dozens of workers live at the site.

Based on the police investigation, the robberies were believed to have been carried out by the same group of people, some of whom were arrested and shot a few days after the first robbery.

Police said that the suspected robbers broke into the house, overpowered the workers and pointed sharp weapons at the couple. They asked for money and gold jewelry. While some of them looked for valuables, one of the men reportedly dragged Yanto's wife to another room and sexually assaulted her.

In the first robbery, the group stole 280 grams of jewelry and Rp 1 million (US$425) in cash. On the second occasion, they made off with Rp 2.5 million and three grams of jewelry.

Early this week, Bekasi Police Chief Lt. Col. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo said that the sexual assault of the housewife did not involve penetration by any of the men.

No semen was found inside the woman, Alex said.

In an interview with the Post a few days after the second robbery, Yanto said that he had a happy marriage with Yan.

"She also has a good relationship with my first wife," he said. Yan formerly worked at a massage parlor. Yanto's first wife lives in a nearby village. (bsr)