Murder suspect avows his innocence

JAKARTA (JP): The prime suspect in the Bambu Apus murders said yesterday he would prefer to die rather than be punished for something he had not done.

"I ask you God to mete out the death penalty to me in this court or seven generations of suffering for my offspring," Philipus read out at the East Jakarta district court.

If his claim of innocence were true, he said, let the death punishment and the prolonged sufferings befall the prosecutor who had done terrible things to him.

"Truly, I did not murder the Rohadis," Philipus read out the defense statement he wrote.

A woman and her three children were murdered in their home in the Bambu Apus subdistrict of East Jakarta on Oct. 2, 1995. Five suspects have been detained and processed in three separate trials.

Last Monday, prosecutors demanded that Philipus and his wife Suparmi be sentenced to death. Eighteen years were demanded for the other three who are minors.

According to Philipus, the court and prosecutor have not given him a fair chance given the circumstances under which he and his family were detained by the police.

"I told the court that I was tortured, but has the court cared to take a look at my scars?" Philipus questioned.

Meanwhile, Philipus' lawyers demanded that Philipus be acquitted of all charges because none of the witnesses presented before the court witnessed Philipus committing the murder.

"The whole process of acquiring and gathering evidence until investigation was filled with human rights violations," lawyer O.C. Kaligis said.

A total of five lawyers took turns to read the 187-page defense statement which lasted more than four hours.

They cited a number of things including the minors' alibis at the time of the murders and the police's alleged conspiracy to force Suparmi and her niece, Susannah, to sign a letter requiring police protection.

The minors, Albertus and Clemens, claim they were in school when the murders took place, the lawyers said, and this was confirmed by their school headmasters.

Regarding the letter signed by Suparmi and her niece Susannah asking for police protection, the lawyers said that the letter was written by the police themselves.

"How could a lowly-educated woman compose such a well-written letter?" the lawyers asked.

The lawyers also said that no blood was found around Philipus' house before Oct. 4. Between Oct. 2 and Oct. 4 the rainfall was heavy around Philipus's house and if there had been away blood it would have been washed away, the lawyers said.

Philipus said his long knife which the police claimed was used in the murder had been borrowed by police personnel on Oct. 3, with no traces of blood. It was then returned and confiscated a day later without Philipus' knowledge.

The lawyers pointed out that the defendant had been robbed of his rights as a citizen when his house was ransacked by the masses and his property looted.

The hearing was mostly attended by Philipus' relatives which was apparent from the cheers when Philipus' claim of innocent was read.

The prosecutor's response will be heard on Friday. (14)