City police probe schoolgirl rape case

City police probe schoolgirl rape case

JAKARTA (JP): City police are still investigating the alleged
involvement of a school teacher and a police corporal in the rape
of a 14-year-old schoolgirl.

"The investigation is still going on and nobody has been named
as a suspect so far," said City Police spokesman Lt. Col. Iman
Haryatna yesterday.

So far, "all we have is the account of the schoolgirl," Iman
said.

However, if the story is true, those involved, including the
police officer, will be punished in accordance with the law, the
spokesman said.

"If there is strong evidence for his participation in the
rape, the police officer will be tried under martial law," Iman
said.

"He will at the very least be fired for having tarnished the
image of the police corps," he said.

According to the victim, a sixth grade elementary school
student identified by the police only as R, she was asked by her
sports teacher, Is, to go with him to his rented house in Muara
Baru, Penjaringan district, North Jakarta, on May 10.

Still wearing the state elementary school uniform, she was
taken to his friend's house in Tanah Abang, from where they went
to Jl. Jati Baru in Central Jakarta. Is reportedly then took R to
a hotel.

The girl told police that Is raped her around 7 p.m. A police
officer, identified only as M, who was alerted by a suspicious
hotel employee, was waiting for them as they left the room.

When M asked Is to reveal his identity, he produced an
identity card stating he worked as a security guard at a factory
in Muara Baru, North Jakarta.

Is, R and the hotel employee were then questioned at City
Police Headquarters.

R said Is whispered something in M's ear, after which M took
them to Is' house. She then said a member of Is' family gave the
police officer Rp 100,000 in cash which she took to be hush
money.

Puncak

R was then taken to Ancol around 10 p.m. It was not clear what
they did there. R said she was then taken to Puncak, a vacation
resort near Bogor, where she said the officer raped her.

R was finally found on Wednesday by the Tambora police after
her mother, Gow Sioe Ing, reported that she had been missing
since May 10.

City councilors have demanded a thorough investigation into
the alleged rape. If the crime turns out to have happened, both
the teacher and the police officer should be dismissed, they
said.

Nawadji, from the Armed Forces faction, said that like the
police officer believed to have died of an ecstasy overdose on
Wednesday in a discotheque, the officer involved in the rape case
has besmirched the image of ABRI.

"Such a police officer no longer deserves to be a member of
the Indonesian Armed Forces," Nawadji said.

The police force must regain the trust of the public who may
be afraid of reporting crimes involving ABRI members, Nawadji
said.

Atje Muljadi, who chairs the commission overseeing public
welfare, said the city agency in charge of primary education
should step up the supervision of teachers.
(bsr/anr)