German man held for sexual molestation
JAKARTA (JP): Police are questioning a German national over alleged sexual molestation of at least three young boys following his arrest late Thursday night.
Adj. Comr. Sudiarto Toyib of the city police public service center said that angry residents of Pamulang district in Tangerang detained the German citizen, who is in his 40s, on Thursday night after repeated complaints of sexual molestation from at least three young boys.
"The boys are really young. One of them is 12 years of age. This man video taped the sexual acts, mainly oral sex, which he performed on the boys and vice versa. City police have confiscated five videos as evidence," Sudiarto told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
"This man, identified as MF, had approached a housemaid placement agency in Tangerang, and told the woman owner that he only wanted male helpers. The lady sent him three boys, two of them aged 14 and the third aged 12."
As soon as the three boys arrived, MF allegedly showed the boys tapes of himself performing sexual acts on other small boys, Sudiarto said, and ordered the new male helpers to do the same to him as well.
"He concentrated on the 12-year-old, and used the small boy at least four times, after which he told the boy to clean up the mess. The boy is still suffering from severe rashes," Sudiarto said.
Sudiarto added that the boys made the correct move when they reported the German to Toni Sumantoro, head of the neighborhood unit where he was staying.
Toni alerted the neighborhood's residents to watch for the German and to capture him upon his arrival. After capturing him, the residents handed over the man to the Pamulang Police subprecinct, who searched his residence and found the videotapes.
"What he did was disgusting. He made those small boys strip him first before ordering them to strip themselves," Sudiarto said.
When asked if the boys were paid money after the acts, Sudiarto said that they were not paid since they were his paid helpers.
"Police need to know how long this has been going on, when did this man arrive in Indonesia and for what purpose. We also need to question him to find out if there are more victims in the Pamulang neighborhood."
Article 289 of the Criminal Code carries a maximum punishment of nine years in jail for sexual molestation of minors.
While sexual molestation, anal sex and oral sex are common amongst street children, particularly those who move from city to city on trains or buses, one of the country's most notorious pedophile cases came to light almost five years ago.
A scavenger named Siswanto, also known as Robot Gedek, was arrested in early 1996 for sodomizing, torturing and killing ten street boys.
He was sentenced to death in May 1997. (ylt)