Mother and son killed in rented house

JAKARTA (JP): A mother and her son were brutally murdered in their rental home in Kampung Gunung Utara, Ciputat, South Jakarta, on Thursday night, police and hospital officials said on Friday.

Sarah, 33, was found dead in the bathroom with wounds to the left side of her neck, left jaw, right chest and on the back of her head, while her three-year-old son Aldo was found next to his bed with a slash wound to his neck.

A daughter, Dini, 2, is being treated for a lower jaw fracture at Fatmawati Hospital in South Jakarta.

A family relative, Arif, who lives next door, said the victims were alive when he left their house at 7 p.m.

Arif said when he returned home at 10 p.m. he saw Sarah's front door was open. He said he entered the house to see if anything was wrong.

"I found Dini lying on the floor of the living room and Aldo lying beside his bed with a pool of blood around him. I immediately called the police, who found Sarah in the bathroom," he said at Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital.

Lies Islan, a relative of the victim's husband, said she had been monetarily assisting Sarah and her children since Sarah's husband deserted the family a year ago.

"Her mother-in-law asked me to take care of them, so I asked Sarah to live in one of my rental houses and look after it. She lived there for the last eight months," Lies said.

She said Sarah previously lived in Malang, East Java.

Lies refused to give the name of Sarah's husband. "I don't like to talk about him," she said, adding that she could not understand how anyone could murder Sarah and Aldo.

The police said Sarah was found in a brassiere and a pair of pajama bottoms and that none of her belongings were missing. Police also said they found a machete they believed was the murder weapon.

A forensic expert at Cipto Mangunkusumo said Sarah's injuries indicated she had struggled with her assailant. (01)