Murder suspects confessed to the crime, court told

Murder suspects confessed to the crime, court told

JAKARTA (JP): Police told a court hearing yesterday that the
suspects in the Bambu Apus murders had all confessed to the
crime, including the main suspect Philipus.

"They immediately admitted to their involvement in the
butchering of Rohadi's family. Philipus, however, initially only
admitted to killing Mrs. Elly," Denan Purba, a police officer
said yesterday, referring to Rohadi's wife.

Mrs. Elly and her three children were murdered on Oct. 2, 1995
in their home in the Bambu Apus subdistrict, east of Jakarta.

Beside Philipus, other suspects of the murder include Suparmi,
Philipus' wife, and three minors. They have been in custody since
Oct. 6.

Further interrogations were necessary to attain clarity about
what actually happened, Denan, who acted as witness, said.

"Information given mostly differed in detail while the essence
of admitting to murder was there since the beginning," Denan
said.

Denan also denied Philipus' earlier claim that the police had
tortured him and the other suspects. His testimony was supported
by his superior, First Lieutenant Mahbub bin Ahmad.

"Not once did we torture nor intimidate them," Mahbub told the
court.

The police treated the suspects well and they were attentive
when they signed and filed the police reports now used in court,
Mahbub said.

The suspects were not instructed or given plots to follow,
Denan added, contrary to what they told the court about the plot
they were forced to admit to committing.

"How could I graph the plot when I didn't know what happened?
I recorded only what they said, no more and no less," Denan, who
recorded the investigation, said.

None of the lawyers present ever objected to the
reconstruction scenario, he added.

Both Denan and Mahbub also refuted the suspects' earlier claim
that there had been a crime reconstruction rehearsal prior to the
actual reconstruction at the crime site.

"There was no rehearsal. We only wanted to gather as much
accurate information as we possibly could," Denan said, referring
to the possibility that small details of the murder might have
been overlooked.

When asked by the judge to comment, Philipus said that torture
took place prior to interrogation.

"We were tortured in the Jakarta Police office, not at the
East Jakarta police precinct where we were questioned," Philipus
said.

Both police officers told the court that Philipus was seen
crying at least twice. In both instances he apologized for the
troubles he had caused them, they said.

"I cried because Pak Purba was attentive enough to buy me soap
and slippers. At the Jakarta city police office, we were mere
victims of police brutality," Philipus told the court.

Meanwhile, Philipus' lawyer asked the officers about the legal
basis on which the suspects had been arrested.

"The police did not implicate the suspects until October 12,
but they had been detained since October 6. What was the legal
basis for detaining them?" lawyer Hoiriah asked the two officers.
The question went unanswered.

Court hearings were adjourned until next Monday. (14)