Four held on assault charges

Four held on assault charges

JAKARTA (JP): The Ciracas police detectives in East Jakarta
have arrested all of the four suspects believed to have severely
battered three women early last week.

City Police spokesman Lt. Col. Bambang Permantoro told
reporters on Tuesday that the four suspects, all of whom are
university students, were arrested on Monday afternoon in Jambi,
Sumatra, after they tried to elude the police.

They were identified only as MA, 26, Har, 22, Mus, 24, and
Bag, 23, said the spokesman after speaking with head of the
Ciracas police.

"As soon as the Ciracas police got information about their
whereabouts, they rushed to Jambi and arrested all of the
suspects, who were hiding at a house belonging to a relative of
one of them," Bambang said.

The spokesman denied reports made earlier by local media that
the women were brutally raped and beaten and then dumped by the
suspects.

Confessions

Based on confessions made by the victims and suspects, police
preliminary findings indicate that the four students caused
bodily harm to Erna, 19, Marini, 17, and Dina, 16, after having
intercourse with them at the Villa Texas motel at the Puncak
resort near Bogor, West Java, on Aug. 1.

"There's no rape here because they engaged in sex at the motel
with the consent of all parties," he said.

The four suspects panicked when the women, who they met for
the first time at the Blok M shopping center in South Jakarta
earlier that day, asked them to "take responsibility for what
they have done", Bambang said.

By this it was clear they expected the men to ask them to
marry them.

When the suspects refused to agree to the women's demand, one
of the women threatened to report them to the police.

Worrying that it would lead to a serious problem, the men
decided to ditch the women in the pre-dawn hours on Aug. 2 after
beating them, Bambang said.

The three females, who are registered as students of an
economics school in the city, were found by two residents laying
near a public cemetery at Pondokrangon in East Jakarta on Aug. 2.
with their bodies full of wounds.

"We're still collecting more information and evidence to find
out who harmed the women," Bambang said.

The four suspects are currently under intensive investigation
at the Ciracas police.

The police were also informed that a receptionist at the motel
has said that one of the women is familiar to him.

Among the evidence currently in the possession of the police
are the white Toyota Starlet sedan used by the suspects and
stones believed to have been used to inflict pain.

"We're still hunting for some other evidence," Bambang said.

He said that the four suspects left the city immediately in
their sedan after allegedly committing the crime. (bsr)