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.