Indonesian arrested for murder in Osaka

JAKARTA (JP): A 23-year-old Indonesian man has been arrested in Osaka, Japan for killing and robbing a local woman, who he tutored in Bahasa Indonesia, an Indonesian diplomat said yesterday.

Herman Sonjaya, who graduated from a Japanese private university last year, was apprehended Saturday after police found strong evidence implicating him in the slaying and robbing of Miyuki Ikenaga, consul Ibnu Hadi at the Indonesian consulate general office in Osaka told The Jakarta Post via telephone.

Quoting a police report submitted to the Indonesian consulate, Ibnu said Ikenaga was found dead in her Higashi Osaka apartment in the Japanese prefecture of southern Osaka on May 31.

"Herman was said to have strangled the Japanese woman and took her ATM (automatic teller machine) card, which he used to withdraw 80,000 (Rp 6.4 million)," he said.

Police found the victim's diary and some camera film at the ATM booth, Ibnu said.

In the diary, Ikenaga had written that Herman was to meet her for a private Bahasa Indonesia lesson at her apartment on the day she was apparently killed, he explained.

"The ATM's security camera recorded Herman at the booth," Ibnu said.

Herman has admitted to the charges during police questioning, he quoted the local police report as saying.

"But I plan to meet with local police and with Herman to listen to his version and his motive tomorrow (today)," said Ibnu.

"He might have another motive besides money, such as hate or revenge," he said.

Antara yesterday quoted an article of Yomiuri daily in its Sunday's edition as saying that Herman told investigators that he owed her 100,000.

The newspaper reported that Herman allegedly strangled his victim with a wire.

It said the suspect entered the country under a student visa in October 1995, but that his application for visa renewal was rejected last February.

Herman has been in Japan as an illegal alien since then, the daily said.

Ibnu said Herman's visa renewal application was turned down because he had already graduated.

"But I don't have enough information on his status. We haven't even checked our registration book here to find out whether or not he had reported his presence to our office," Ibnu said.

An Indonesian police official said yesterday that he had not been informed of Herman's arrest by Japanese police.

"We really have no idea about the news," Brig. Gen. Wayan Arjana, secretary of Interpol Indonesia, told the Post.

Based on the consulate general's data, almost half of the 1,500 Indonesians in Osaka are students, he said.

According to Yomiuri, at least three Indonesians are being detained by Japanese immigration authorities and are awaiting repatriation.

The Japanese government has repatriated about 20 Indonesians for overstaying in the country since last year. (bsr)