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.