Oki admits fetching victim from airport

JAKARTA (JP): A triple murder suspect told a court here yesterday that he picked up one of his victims from Los Angeles International Airport on the night the victim was believed to have been killed.

"It's true. I picked up Gina from the airport at around 10 or 11 o'clock that evening," Harnoko Dewantono, 32, alias Oki, told the Central Jakarta District Court.

Oki's admission came at the end of a trial session when presiding Judge I.G.K. Sukarata confronted him with testimony from witness Wanda Gularso, 26. Wanda was a friend of victim Gina Sutan Aswar.

When asked by Judge Sukarata where he took Gina from the airport, Oki said: "I am sorry, I can not answer the question. Even the witness herself did not testify on where I took Gina."

On this question, Oki's lawyer, Nurhassyim Illyas, interrupted and raised his objection.

When Judge Sukarata told the defendant the court was only trying to cross-examine the defendant with the question, the lawyer said: "The court should not try to influence the defendant, and the defendant's cross-examination should be postponed until the cross-examination session."

Judge Sukarata overruled the objection. However, he did not continue with his questioning.

Oki, who appeared cool and stoic throughout the hearing, said he agreed with Wanda's testimony that he picked up Gina from the airport on Nov. 2, 1992.

Earlier in the day, Wanda told the court she had known the late Gina for a long time, and that Gina had been living with her for two-and-a-half months in her apartment in Los Angeles, between August and October 1992.

Wanda told the court that she last saw Gina in October 1992 in Los Angeles when Gina left for the French capital, Paris, for a vacation.

"On Nov. 2, 1992 at around nine in the evening, Gina called me. She said she had just arrived from Paris and asked me to pick her up at the airport. But I told her I could not do her the favor, because I was busy then," said Wanda.

"She then gave me a paging number and asked me to page her friend, Oki, so he would pick her up. I paged the number several times before a man named Oki called back. I told him that his friend, Gina, was asking him to fetch her from the airport," she said.

Wanda also revealed to the court that Oki knew about Gina's arrival from Paris.

"Gina told me then that when she called from the airport, Oki also knew of her arrival," she said.

Oki, however, denied Wanda's testimony that he knew about Gina's arrival.

Gina was one of the three victims believed to have been slain by Oki between 1991 and 1992 in Los Angeles. The other two victims were Indian businessman Suresh Gobind Mirchandani and the suspect's own younger brother, Eri Tri Harto Dharmawan.

Their mutilated bodies were found in a storage locker in the Northridge area of Los Angeles on Aug. 10, 1994.

Oki had admitted in previous court sessions that he put Gina's body in a box and stored it in the locker.

Oki was accompanied by only two lawyers from his nine-lawyer team yesterday.

Judge Sukarata adjourned the trial to next Tuesday, when he will hear testimony from Oki's parents, Hendarno Hendarmin and Sekartini Handijaya. They were slated to testify yesterday, but failed to show up. It was the third time the couple delayed their testimony. (26)