Maid accused of killing crying baby

Maid accused of killing crying baby

Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Bogor

A maid reportedly killed a nine-month-old baby boy in Bogor
regency last Thursday because she could not tolerate the baby's
crying.

Gunung Putri Police's chief of detectives, First Insp. Helpi
Hanafi, told the press on Monday the suspect, Sri Wahyuni, had
confessed to the crime.

Helpi said that Sri told investigators she became upset when
the baby, Moh. Taufik Al Farizi, with whom she had been left at
home alone, would not stop crying.

The baby's father, Salman Ansori, 34, mother, Salmiah, 35, and
older sister, Anisa, 3, had gone to Jakarta so Salman could
attend a meeting at his office in the Jakarta administration.

Sri said Taufik began to cry on Thursday morning and all of
her efforts to quiet the baby failed.

"Then I started to slap his mouth and body with both my hands
before I threw him onto the mattress. Seconds later, Taufik's
body was rigid and he did not move or make a sound," she
reportedly told officers.

On Friday morning, Sri went to the house of Salmiah's brother,
Sufri, in Cimone, Tangerang, where she said that Taufik had died
after falling from a swing.

Sufri called Salmiah in Jakarta, who informed her husband of
the tragedy. The family rushed back to their house in the Vila
Nusa Indah housing complex in Gunung Putri district, Bogor
regency.

There they found Taufik's bruised body and immediately
contacted the police.

"When we examined the baby's body, there were bruises all over
it. We can't do anything yet because we need an autopsy report
from the doctor saying if the baby was murdered," said Helpi.

However, Taufik was buried in the Karet Bivak cemetery in
Central Jakarta before an autopsy was performed.

Police detained Sri on Saturday for questioning. The police
plan to disinter Taufik's body in order to perform an autopsy and
determine an exact cause of death.