Jilted lover found dead in N. Bekasi

JAKARTA (JP): A broken-hearted woman committed suicide yesterday after her lover refused to marry her and insisted that she abort her pregnancy.

The body of the 22-year-old factory worker, identified as Lamtiur Simanungkalit, was found by a friend in the kitchen of their rented house in Kampung Bojong Menteng, North Bekasi, at 2:50 a.m. yesterday.

Her pregnancy was about two-and-a-half-months in gestation, the victim's relatives said.

A two-page letter, written partly in the Batak dialect, is believed to be the victim's handwriting.

"Bang (brother) Timbul, I have no choice but to die this way with my baby rather than kill it," the letter said, referring to her lover, Timbul Sirait, a bus driver.

In the letter, the victim urged her lover not to cheat on her anymore.

"I've tried to bury all the pain deep in my heart even though you often slapped and kicked me," she wrote in the letter. "I even asked my mother for money but you still refused to marry me."

The letter, also written to her mother, expressed her hope that the elderly woman would not be sad that she would not have a new grandchild.

"You still have three other children," the letter said.

A relative, P. Pasaribu, said the family was shocked that Lamtiur had hung herself.

"I know that she often quarreled with her boyfriend, Timbul Sirait, about her wish to get married soon," Pasaribu said.

"She must have been very desperate."

Lamtiur migrated to Jakarta three years ago after she graduated from high school, leaving behind her parents in North Sumatra, he said.

"She was a shy girl and didn't talk much with young men except close friends or relatives," he said.

Pasaribu said that Lamtiur had been in a special relationship with Timbul, a bus conductor for Sanggul Mas buses plying the Medan-Jakarta route, for almost six months.

Lamtiur's family would not pursue Timbul or blame him for her death, he said.

Bekasi Police would handle the case and the family had accepted the incident as a suicide, he said.

"Nobody should be blamed. He (Timbul) will be judged by God for whatever he did and we can only pray for Lamtiur, may she rest in peace."

The family is to bury the body today at Menteng Pulo Public Cemetery in Central Jakarta.

Other victims

Police said yesterday that two other people had apparently committed suicide in separate incidents in North Jakarta.

City police spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang said the bodies of Agus Supriadi, 20, and Siti Sabariah, 24, were found by their families in their bedrooms on Monday evening.

Aritonang said Agus, of Gang Budi Kemuliaan in Pademangan district, had allegedly killed himself by drinking insecticide.

"Preliminary investigations have found that he may have decided to end his life because he couldn't stand to see his parents fighting with each other and ignoring him."

Agus's body was found about 10 p.m.

The second victim, Siti of Tanah Pasir subdistrict of Penjaringan, also ended her life by drinking insecticide, Aritonang said.

"Her body was found about 11:45 p.m. in her bedroom. Her family and relatives said that she had become very depressed with her prolonged bouts of epilepsy," he said. (04/cst)