Police arrest alleged killer of 10 street boys
Police arrest alleged killer of 10 street boys
JAKARTA (JP): Central Jakarta detectives have arrested a 33-
year-old homeless scavenger believed to be behind the sodomizing,
killing and mutilation of 10 street boys.
Eight of the boys' bodies were found in the capital. The
victims' age ranged from 9 to 15 years old.
"The suspect, arrested in Tegal, Central Java, on July 27, has
already admitted the crimes," Jakarta Police Chief Maj. Gen.
Hamami Nata told reporters yesterday.
He added the arrest was not announced earlier because
detectives were busy investigating the riots in Jakarta on the
same day and needed time to acquire adequate material evidence.
The suspect, identified as Siswanto, alias Robot, became the
leading suspect in the investigation on July 5, when the last
victim was discovered.
According to Central Jakarta Police Chief Lt. Col. Abubakar
Nataprawira, Siswanto was apprehended by a special team of nine
detectives, who began tracking Siswanto two days after the body
was found.
They had combed dozens of villages and cities in West and
Central Java where the suspect's relatives were believed to have
stayed.
"Siswanto was arrested at around 6 p.m. while begging at a
railway station in Tegal," Abubakar said.
The case is the first of its kind in the country.
During preliminary police questioning, the suspect admitted
sodomizing and strangling eight street boys in Jakarta.
Siswanto also said he did the same to two other boys in
Purwokerto and Kroya, Central Java, where he is believed to have
stayed for short periods.
"In cooperation with the local police, we're still
investigating the fate of the two other victims," the police
spokesman said.
City Police Spokesman Lt. Col. Iman Haryatna quoted Siswanto
as saying that he molested the eight victims in Jakarta at the
Proyek Senen shopping center.
This was apparently done in the evenings after treating the
boys to a trip and cheap meal at the Ancol Dreamland in North
Jakarta.
"He then asked the teenage boys to accompany him to certain
places where he allegedly strangled the victims with a rope, and
then sliced their stomachs open with a razor or a cheap cutter,"
the spokesman said.
Siswono said he met the street boys at different shopping
centers and markets on separate evenings.
The eight victims were found in different places near the
defunct airport in Kemayoran, in Central Jakarta, and in the
Pondok Kopi district, East Jakarta.
The bodies of the street boys, two of whom remain
unidentified, were found with L, C or U-shaped wounds on their
stomachs. The wounds were between 15 and 90 centimeters long.
The victims were found naked or semi-naked with their
decomposed intestines exposed. In most cases, the police found a
razor, a cigarette butt and the victims' clothes near the bodies.
"Based on material evidence, eyewitness accounts and the
suspect's confession, we hope the suspect will be sentenced to
the maximum level of punishment," Maj. Gen. Hamami said.
Spokesman Iman said Siswono may well face the death penalty.
According to police records, the first victim, later
identified as Mansyur, 11, was found in Pondok Kopi on April 28,
1994.
The second was later identified as Agus, 15, found in Pondok
Kopi on Dec. 15, 1994.
The third was Andri Ripali, alias Rio Simamora, 12, found in
Kemayoran on March 28, 1995. The fourth, Gito Fabianto, 13, was
found in Pondok Kopi on July 18, 1995.
The fifth and the sixth victims, who remain unidentified, were
found near a golf course in Kemayoran on Sept. 13, 1995, and
April 9, 1996 respectively.
The two latest victims, both aged 11, were identified as Wisnu
Dwi Pranoto, found in Kemayoran on June 26, 1996, and Kasikin,
found in Pondok Kopi on July 5, 1996 respectively.
Lt. Col. Abubakar said that the suspect left the city
immediately after committing the latest crime, when he heard that
Kasikin's father vowed to kill his son's murderer. (bsr)