Oki admitted to killing his brother: Father

Oki admitted to killing his brother: Father

JAKARTA (JP): The father of triple murder suspect Harnoko
Dewantono, alias Oki, told a court yesterday his son had admitted
to him early last year that he killed his younger brother, Eri
Tri Harto Dharmawan.

"He told me he did it in self-defense because Eri was trying
to kill him," witness Hendarno Hendarmin, 59, told the Central
Jakarta District Court.

Hendarno said Oki told him that he and Eri were involved in a
quarrel and that Eri tried to shoot him with a revolver, but the
weapon turned out to be empty.

"Oki told me he used the opportunity to fight back and
accidentally killed his own brother," he said.

He told the court he did not question Oki further on how he
killed Eri, saying "I did not have the heart to press him
further, because he looked very regretful already."

Hendarno, whose testimony was not taken under oath since he
was a close relative of the defendant, said Oki's confession came
after he asked his son whether he killed the three people whose
mutilated bodies were kept in a storage locker in Los Angeles in
the United States.

"I asked Oki in 1995 after reading about the killing of the
three people, for which my son was then the prime suspect, in a
news magazine " said Hendarno, a retired official of Bank
Indonesia.

He told the court that when Oki confessed to the killing, he
swore by the Holy Koran.

However, Hendarno said Oki denied killing his woman friend
Gina Sutan Aswar and Indian businessman Suresh Gobind
Mirchandani. The two victims were allegedly slain by Oki, 32, in
Los Angeles, between 1991 and 1992.

Hendarno, who told the court he last saw Eri in 1990, said he
still received a New Year's greeting card in January 1993 from
Eri, which he said was the last time Eri had ever contacted him.
He said Oki returned to Indonesia in February 1993.

In the government prosecutors' indictment, Oki was accused of
murdering Eri between late 1991 and late 1992 at a weekly rental
located on Palm Boulevard somewhere between Arizona Street and
Princeton Street in Santa Monica, Los Angeles.

When asked by prosecutor J. Kamaru if he knew Gina and Suresh,
Hendarno said: "I don't know Gina, but I once heard the name
'Suresh' mentioned by Oki, whom he said would buy his laundry
business that he started with his ex-fiance Ipunk Rulyati and
Eri."

Earlier, Ipunk's mother, Lies Soemardi, 47, told the court
from the witness stand that she sent a total of US$500,000 to her
daughter during the time she was staying with Oki.

The money, Lies said, has never been accounted for.

Ipunk, a former girlfriend of Oki, shared a house with him
from 1987 to 1991.

Oki denied Lies' testimony.

Judge I.G.K Sukarata adjourned the hearing to next Tuesday, to
hear more testimonies from, among others, Oki's mother, Sekartini
Handijaya, who failed to show up yesterday due to a health
problem. (26)