Oki admits fetching victim from airport

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)