Father confesses to killing son

TANGERANG (JP): Pasar Kemis Police detectives of Tangerang arrested a disturbed 60-year-old man, who confessed to murdering his son in his sleep in the Gelam village of Pasar Kemis early Wednesday morning.

Police identified the suspect as Sata, 60, who claimed to have visions of drinking blood, and confessed to having killed his son Ikhsan, 12, by cutting his throat with a kitchen knife, at 2 a.m. on Wednesday.

Nearly three hours later, Ikhsan's brother Mulyana alerted his two brothers-in-law, Salim and Sulaeman, that he had seen blood gushing out of Ikhsan's neck.

"When I got up and saw Ikhsan, I thought he was having some horrible nose bleed, but when I tried waking him ... I shook him very hard, but he would not awake," Ikhsan's mother Murni, 50, told reporters at the scene.

"I got the help of a nearby midwife, and she told me that my son was no more."

Ikhsan's brothers-in-law, Salim and Sulaeman, said that Sata seemed very calm when he heard the news, but did look confused.

"He kept saying ... nothing has happened. Ikhsan is not dead. Look! There's no blood on the floor," Sulaeman said, quoting Sata when he saw the dead body, adding that the floor looked like it was just recently wiped.

When they persisted that Sata tell the truth, he finally confessed.

"He said that whatever he did, it seemed like a dream ... from when he took the knife, to stabbing Ikhsan while he was sleeping," Sulaeman said.

Sulaeman said that his father-in-law had suffered a severe concussion a year ago and had received three months of intensive treatment at the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital.

"Since then, he has not been right ... he could dream for hours on end and lately claimed to have been dreaming of drinking blood," Sulaeman said. (41/ylt)