Man commits crime to pay for son's hospital bills

JAKARTA (JP): A defendant at a robbery hearing told the court on Monday that he had to commit the crime simply to cover his three-year-old son's Rp 650,000 (US$94) hospital bill.

"I had no money to pay for my son's hospital fees. Therefore, I accepted my friend's offer to take part in the crime," defendant Surya Bugis, alias Alex, told the Central Jakarta District Court.

Alex and his four companions, Acid, Uwo, Ucok and Yanto, who are still at large, were charged by prosecutors for having snatched a bag from a woman who was having lunch with her husband on March 22 this year at the Soto Babat restaurant on Jl. Kramat Raya.

The gang of five were parking attendants at the site.

According to Alex, it was Ucok who offered him the chance to participate in the wrongdoing.

At the beginning, he recalled, he doubted whether he should accept the offer. He then changed his mind after he thought of his son, Riphal Suryansyah Bugis, who was being treated at Titi Murni Medical Clinic on Jl. Kramat Raya.

Riphal had been treated for fever for two weeks at the hospital, he said. Alex had been told that his son's medical expenses had already reached some Rp 650,000.

"Such an amount of money was too much for me," he said, adding that he only earned Rp 15,000 a day as a parking attendant near the scene of crime.

He finally realized he had no choice and accepted his friend's offer to play a role in the midday robbery.

Alex, who was dismissed earlier this year as a technician at a private firm, told the court that he only played a minor part in the snatching of the woman's bag.

"Uwo and Acid first approached the victim, Shanty Dewi (38), before snatching her bag. I was assigned to stand outside the restaurant to watch out for passersby," he said at the trial presided over by Judge Chasiyani Tanjung.

His two other accomplices, Ucok and Yanto, stood on alert at the restaurant's door to prevent the group from being chased after by other people.

Successful in stealing the bag, the five then met in the evening at the Atrium Senen shopping mall to share the proceeds.

Alex said he was told the bag contained Rp 3.8 million in cash, a Samsung mobile phone, a pair of spectacles and a Mount Blanc pen.

"Ucok gave me Rp 400,000. That night I gave Rp 300,000 to my wife and the remaining Rp 100,000 to my mother," the defendant, who lives with his family in the Kwitang subdistrict, said.

His wife, Cholisah binti Sapri, 17, who attended the trial, confirmed Alex's remarks to the judges.

"At first, he told me that he got the money from his friend. But, later I knew that it was hot money after he was arrested by the police," Cholisah said.

She said the police arrested her husband on July 26 at Cholisah's family's house in Parung Panjang, Depok.

Prosecutor Adi indicted the defendant for committing a burglary in cooperation with other people, violating chapter 365 of the Criminal Code which carries a maximum sentence of 12 years in jail.

Judge Chasiyani adjourned the trial until next week to hear the prosecutor's demands. (asa)