Lawyer awaits Ciracas dossier
Lawyer awaits Ciracas dossier
JAKARTA (JP): The defense lawyer of the main suspect in the
murder of a woman and her three children in Bambu Apus, East
Jakarta, said yesterday he had not yet received any dossier on
the case.
"Up to the present time, I have not received any dossier
because the suspect hasn't confessed to anything about his
alleged involvement in the murder," O.C. Kaligis told The Jakarta
Post yesterday.
Kaligis is to defend Filipus Kia in court for his alleged
involvement in the murder of the 31-year-old wife and three young
children of school teacher Rohadi.
According to police the murder was provoked by a quarrel
between Filipus and Rohadi's family over cassava plants
cultivated in front of the victim's house.
Filipus, along with his son and two of his nephews, are now in
police custody on charges of involvement in the case.
Filipus' wife Parmi and their other son will be called as
witnesses.
By law, police are obliged to assign defense lawyers to
suspects charged with committing a crime that carries death the
penalty or more than 15 years imprisonment if they cannot afford
to hire one.
"Since I have been retained by Filipus as his lawyer, I should
be doing my job," Kaligis said.
He said that formal investigations had not yet started. The
police had merely invited a psychiatrist to investigate the
suspect's psychological condition.
The murder, which took place early last week, has caused
public anger. Soon after the police announced the arrest over the
weekend of the suspects, who are neighbors of the victims, local
residents partially destroyed the Filipus' house and houses
belonging to the his relatives.
"I have a problem now since the mob have unlawfully punished
my client," Kaligis said. "I myself have neither received any
official report on the suspects nor the testimony of the
witnesses."
As stipulated by law, people should uphold the principle of
presumption of innocence, he said.
Kaligis said one crime should not responded to with another
crime. The partial burning down of the houses of the suspects'
relatives "just does not make sense," he added. (03)