Girlfriend's testimony

Girlfriend's testimony

JAKARTA (JP): The girlfriend of a murdered cable construction worker has testified in the Central Jakarta District Court that she saw one of the three suspects in the case with the victim on the night of the murder.

The worker, Bandi, 30, a cable construction worker of PT Telkom, was allegedly murdered by three of his associates employed by the cable construction company PT Mekadaya.

Karmilah told the court on Tuesday that she was in Bandi's house half an hour prior to the murder, which took place in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, on July 9, last year.

She said that at around one o'clock in the morning, Andi, 26, one of the defendants, asked her boyfriend to go out with him for a meeting with other workers to discuss "work-related matters".

"My boyfriend at first refused but he had to go because Andi forced him to go," Karmilah said.

Thirty minutes later she found Bandi dead on the railway tracks nearby with crowds of people staring at the body.

"I found out that my boyfriend had been murdered only when I saw his mutilated body in the morgue at the hospital the next day," she said.

Witnesses said that defendants Samsi, 36, Tarwan, 38, and Andi fought with Bandi after they accused him of stealing 210 meters of electric cable which they were supposed to install in the area.

Bandi died in the fight from head injuries sustained from beatings and knife wounds.

In her testimony yesterday, Karmila told the court that during their three month intimate relationship she thought Bandi had had a good relationship with the three defendants.

"In fact they were good friends and they came from the same town, Cilacap (West Java)," she said.

The fifth court session trying the case yesterday was led by presiding judge Mohammad Dalael and was adjourned until next week to hear other witnesses.(03)