Body of eight-year-old removed from river

Body of eight-year-old removed from river

JAKARTA (JP): The body of an eight-year-old boy, Taufik
Hidayat, was discovered on Thursday in Pesangrahan river in West
Jakarta, the same area where the bodies of the boy's mother and
elder brother were pulled a day earlier.

The boy, who attended second grade at an elementary school,
was removed from the nearly dry river early on Thursday morning.

The bodies of his 27-year-old mother, Yeye Muhiya, and three-
year-old brother, Dede Ridwan, were extracted out of the same
area a day earlier at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. respectively, West
Jakarta Police chief Lt. Col. Adjie Rustam Ramdja said.

He said police were still building a case but initial
speculation was that Yeye, who was divorced, killed her two sons
and then herself over family and financial problems.

"We found a note at Yeye's parents home in the Kelapa Dua area
on Wednesday. It's written by Yeye and addressed to her parents,"
Adjie said.

After her divorce with her husband, who is now living in
Surakarta, Yeye, who was often hired by neighbors to wash clothes
for Rp 5,000 (US 75 cents), lived with her sons at her parents'
house, which was about 50 meters away from where her and her
sons' bodies were found.

In the letter, Yeye wrote that her heart had been broken ever
since her husband, Mulyadi, divorced her three years ago. She
felt ashamed to return to her parents' home and she was broke.

"Her parents didn't help. She decided that she and her
children should not be a burden to her parents any longer,"
officer Adjie said.

At the house on the narrow, steep road of Jl. H. Taha II,
Yeye's father, Muselih, 54, was seen sitting outside on the porch
of his home on Thursday, smiling at guests who came to give their
condolences.

His wife, Marfuah, dressed in a black kebaya (traditional
women's wear) with gold embroidery, laid on the floor of her
living room, absently playing with a straw in her mouth. She was
weeping silently.

Muselih, who grows and sells jasmine flowers, said Yeye, the
second of the couple's 10 children, left the house at 6:30 a.m.
on Tuesday.

"Marfuah told me that Yeye walked out of the back of our house
carrying her sick son Hidayat in her arms and was followed by
Dede. Hidayat was very sick for the past two weeks. Yeye said she
was bringing Hidayat to Eni, a midwife who lives nearby," he
said.

But Marfuah told another version. On Monday night, she said,
Yeye asked her father for Rp 5,000 to pay the midwife for seeing
her ill son.

"But Muselih answered that he had no money because he was
unable to sell enough flowers that day," she said.

At Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital, Muselih told reporters
that he gave Yeye Rp 5,000.

He said when Yeye brought her two sons to the midwife, he was
selling flowers at Rawabelong market.

"I did not see them since then. I was taking a nap when police
and neighbors told me they were found floating dead in the
river," he said.

A hospital postmortem report disclosed that there was a bruise
on Yeye's chin and a blood stain in her mouth.

Marfuah recalled that she did see Yeye and her two sons leave
the house that morning.

"Dede was at first not wearing slippers until I asked him to,"
she added.

On Wednesday night, police also found an overturned slipper
belonging to Dede on the muddy banks of the Pesanggrahan river.
The back of the slipper was spotless.

Police also found a wallet containing Rp 16,000 in the clothes
on Yeye's body.

A local woman, who requested anonymity, told reporters on
Thursday that Yeye approached Nurhayati, the victim's best friend
and neighbor, that morning.

"When Nurhayati asked her where she was going so early, Yeye
just cried and walked off with her children toward the river,"
the woman said. (ylt/01)