Mother and son killed in rented house

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)