Forensic tests go against witnesses in Adiguna case
Forensic tests go against witnesses in Adiguna case
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Prosecutors have returned the case file of Adiguna Sutowo, the
sole suspect in the murder of Yohannes Berchmans "Rudy" Haerudy
Natong, after finding witnesses' testimonies did not match with
the forensic evidence.
A prosecutor Andi Herman said the main weakness in the case
file submitted by the police was the contradiction between
testimonies by witnesses, who said that Rudy was shot at a close
range of around one meter, with a forensic test that suggested he
was shot from several meters away.
"We have returned the case file mostly because of this
contradiction. Our other instructions are easy to complete as
they only concern the documents, including the gun license and
court's decision on the confiscation of evidence," Andi told The
Jakarta Post on Sunday.
Adiguna is a wealthy and well-connected man and observers fear
the police and prosecutors are not effectively investigating what
many consider an open and shut case.
He said all statements from the witnesses in the case file
confirmed that they had seen Adiguna shoot Rudy from a meter away
while based on laboratory tests, Mu'in Idris, a forensic expert
from the University of Indonesia, testified that Rudy was shot
from several meters away.
"The police should settle this inconsistency as it can weaken
our prosecution case. We think that the police should explain the
difference or drop this testimony as we believe that determining
the range of shooting should be done by a ballistics expert, not
a forensics expert," Andi said.
A forensic expert was only needed to explain the cause of
Rudy's death, he said.
Andi said his office had asked the police to resolve the
contradiction by adding testimonies into the case file from
ballistic experts either from National Police Headquarters or the
city police.
"We also still want to ask the National Police Headquarters
whether the gun has a license or not. If it has a license, we
want to know who has it," he said.
The police first filed the report on the New Year's Day
shooting at the Hilton Hotel's Fluid Bar in Central Jakarta with
the prosecutor's office a week ago.
Adiguna, the younger brother of the major shareholder in the
Hilton Hotel chain, Ponco Sutowo, has been charged under Article
338 of the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum sentence of 15
years' jail, and Article 1 of Emergency Law No. 12/1951, which
carries a maximum death sentence.
On Thursday, the prosecutor's office returned the case file to
the Jakarta Police announcing several documents were missing from
the case file.
So far, police have depended on witnesses and forensic tests
to charge Adiguna as they could not find his fingerprints on the
gun, and the 19 bullets found in Adiguna's hotel room.
A legal expert from the University of Indonesia Rudy Satrio
said inconsistencies could be devastating for police evidence as
Adiguna's lawyer would use to weaken the witnesses' testimonies.
"The witnesses' credibility is on the line here. It looks like
they will come up with the argument that other people shot Rudy
from quite a distance," Rudy told the Post.
He proposed that the police should also seek a second opinion
both from forensic and ballistic experts.