Body of RI maid found in Malaysia

Body of RI maid found in Malaysia

Agencies, Kuala Lumpur/Jakarta

Malaysian police have detained a suspect after the body of an
Indonesian maid, believed to have been raped before being
murdered, was discovered in some bushes behind her employer's
home, reports said on Tuesday.

The half-naked body of 41-year-old Ismawati from Java,
Indonesia, was found in a pool of blood with stab wounds on her
neck after she was reported missing from her room on early
Monday.

Police were questioning a 28-year-old local man who lives 500
meters from the victim's employer's home, said district acting
police chief Ridzuan Johan Ariffin.

Meanwhile, Marty Natalegawa, Indonesian foreign ministry
spokesman, said his office would ask its embassy in Malaysia to
handle the case.

"We, through our embassy in Kuala Lumpur, will quickly seek
facts surrounding the incident to ensure the perpetrator(s) are
held accountable," he told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

The employer's 14-year-old daughter heard loud noises from the
maid's room late Sunday and alerted her father, who then tried to
get the maid to come out of the locked room, he said.

"When there was no reply, the employer broke into the room of
the maid and discovered blood stains on her mattress," Ridzuan
was quoted as saying by the Malay-language Berita Harian daily.

A team of police officers with tracker dogs were immediately
dispatched to the area to look for the victim.

Ridzuan said police had ruled out robbery as the motive as
nothing in the victim's room was taken, adding that the victim
was likely to have been killed by two people.

He said police would continue to question the detained suspect
as well as close friends of the victim.