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)