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.