Tue, 25 Jan 2000

Four arrested for vicious taxi rape

JAKARTA (JP): South Jakarta Mobile Police detectives (Resmob) took 12 hours to hunt down four men in connection with Friday night's vicious rape of a young woman in a taxi on Jl. Melawai, South Jakarta, a police chief said on Monday.

Col. Nono Suprijono identified the four as Rusdi, the alleged taxi driver and rapist; Koming, who, it is alleged, also raped the victim after hiding in the taxi's trunk; Iwan, Rusdi's friend who allegedly helped Rusdi withdraw money from the woman's ATM; and Suhadi, the taxi driver who, detectives say, leased the Kotas (Koperasi Taxi Sepakat) taxi to Rusdi for five days for a substantial sum.

"Our detectives began the search at 12 a.m. on Monday ... it went on till 12 p.m today (Monday). Since the police report on Saturday, we have only raided taxis in South Jakarta so that suspects would feel that we weren't looking elsewhere," Nono told reporters at South Jakarta Police headquarters.

Twenty-three-year old Ruth, which is not her real name, was picked up by a taxi on Jl. Melawai at about 8 p.m. on Friday. She asked to be driven home to Permata Hijau in South Jakarta.

She was instead driven around several places for hours before Rusdi and Koming took her to a football field in Rawabuaya, West Jakarta.

Rusdi was allegedly the first to rape her, followed by Koming. She lost consciousness and the men went through her purse and found Rp 150,000, US$79 and a Citibank ATM card.

When Ruth recovered consciousness, she became aware that Rusdi had driven her to the home of Iwan, Rusdi's friend. Rusdi picked up Iwan and drove to Citibank's ATM machine in Puri Indah mall, West Jakarta.

After being forced to withdraw US$200 in cash, Ruth was gagged and bound before being thrown from the car onto a road in Karang Tengah. She was then given some transportation money.

Police have confiscated from Rusdi a Kotas taxi, no. 154 with license no. B 1714 MX, where the alleged rape occurred, his wallet containing Rp 35,000, Suhadi's wallet containing Rp 230,000 and Koming's wallet containing Rp 80,000.

Detectives Johan and Raka said Ruth gave them directions to Iwan's home in Cengkareng, West Jakarta, after being examined at a hospital.

"She showed us to Iwan's house and that was more than enough," Raka told The Jakarta Post.

The mobile police unit learned from Iwan -- who tried to escape and was shot in the leg twice -- that Koming lived in Duri Kosambi in Tangerang. A detective who requested anonymity said he waited outside Koming's house until residents in the area got suspicious.

"They thought I was some thief. I told them who I was and why I was there. They waited with me. When an ojek (motorcycle taxi) passed by, one man pointed out that Koming was the passenger. I told that motorcycle taxi to stop," the detective said.

"I took out my gun and asked Koming who he was. He kept on saying 'Arkoming'. When I asked him for the third time, he said 'Koming'. We told him to get in our car and made him show us the way to Rusdi's house in Tanah Merah, Tangerang."

As the detectives were heading there, they spotted a Kotas taxi with the same license number, and a woman passenger in the backseat, heading in the opposite direction.

"We turned our car around and chased after the taxi. We nearly bashed into each other and got Rusdi out of the taxi." From there, the detectives were led to the home of Suhadi, who lives in Batu Ceper in Tangerang.

In the station's interrogation room, detectives and a few reporters gathered to hear the suspects' version of the story.

Suspecting that they were telling untruths, the detectives present dejectedly slapped their foreheads with their hands.

Rusdi said that after the rape and the robbery, he reached his home at about 2:30 a.m. in Tangerang.

"Out of the US$200, Iwan got US$100 for helping us out with the ATM," he said. (ylt)