Four arrested for vicious taxi rape
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)