Evidence mounts against Oki

JAKARTA (JP): A young woman told a court here yesterday that she sent money for the rental on a locker to defendant Harnoko Dewantono in the United States two years ago.

Dewantono, alias Oki, is now on trial for triple murder in Central Jakarta District Court.

"He asked me to send Rp 250,000 which he said he would use to pay the rent of a U-Haul Storage locker in Los Angeles," said Gita Setiani, 29, a former girlfriend of Oki.

Oki had told the court earlier that he kept one of his victims in a box which he stored in a U-Haul Storage locker in the North Ridge area.

The Los Angeles Police Department found the body of Gina Sutan Aswar, Oki's friend, inside a box on Aug. 10, 1994.

The police also found two other boxes in the same locker which contained the mutilated bodies of Indian businessman Suresh Gobind Mirchandani and Oki's younger brother, Eri Tri Harto Dharmawan.

It is believed they were all slain by Oki in Los Angeles.

Gita Setiani also testified that she once paid Oki's hospital expenses when he was hospitalized in Ongkomulyo Medical Center, a private hospital in East Jakarta.

Oki, however, denied all Gita's testimonies.

"It's not true Your Honor. I never asked her to send me the money to pay the storage rent, neither did she pay my hospital expenses," he told Judge I.G.K. Sukarata.

Gita, who said she met Oki in October1993 and had been his girlfriend for seven months, told the court that she first heard of Gina through a friend. She said the friend told her that the woman was killed in Los Angeles and that her boyfriend at the time, Oki, was believed to have been involved in the killing.

"But when I asked Oki about this, he told me that it was a rumor. He asked me to ignore it and said that the rumor was slanderous," said Gita, who appeared distressed, wiping away her tears.

However, her relationship with Oki, she said, grew sour after that and she broke him off with him.

She also told the court that she knew of Oki's brother Eri by name only and said she knew nothing of the Indian businessman Mirchandani.

Yesterday's hearing was also supposed to hear testimonies from Oki's father and mother, Hendarno Hendarmin and Sekartini, but they failed to show up in court.

Ipunk, another girlfriend of Oki, testified at the trial two weeks ago.

Judge Sukarata adjourned the trial until next Tuesday. (26)