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)