Police awaiting postmortem result in burning case

JAKARTA (JP): Tanah Abang police are still awaiting the postmortem and forensic examination reports on a woman who died from severe burns Sunday to decide whether a crime was committed.

"There's no significant progress, thus far," the police subprecinct chief Capt. R. Sigit TH told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

According to Sigit, his office has just handed over a charred stove found at the scene of incident to the National Police Forensic Laboratory for examination.

"We need to know whether the stove exploded or was burned," Sigit said. He is expecting the results within days.

The victim, Nora Arista, 22, who was unemployed, died at Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital after being treated for nine days in the intensive care unit.

Her boyfriend, Udin alias Raymond, 37, told the hospital staff the woman was his wife and was burned after a gasoline stove in their house in Karet Tengsin, Central Jakarta, exploded while she was trying to switch it on.

Raymond, who police have said is an ex-convict, took the remains and, accompanied by his family, buried Nora's body on the same day at the Karet public cemetery.

He informed none of Nora's relatives about her death, one of them said.

Her father, Alen Syahrial, 55, said he did not learn his daughter had passed away until five days later.

Following Nora's death, her suspicious brother Ismed, who claimed he saw bruises on his sister's body at the hospital, reported what he considered was foul play to the Tanah Abang police.

"Besides the burns, I saw bruises on her body, indicating that she had been beaten," he told reporters Thursday.

Ismed also told the police that a friend of his younger brother witnessed Nora being tortured by Raymond in a narrow alley near their house at about midnight on the evening of June 5.

Based on Ismed's report, the Tanah Abang police then detained Raymond for questioning and, with the permission of the victim's family, exhumed Nora's remains on Thursday to undertake a thorough postmortem.

During police questioning, Raymond admitted he had beaten Nora but denied burning her to death, officer Sigit said.

In the late hours of June 5, he was waiting for Nora on his RX King motorcycle in the alley near the house he had been asked to temporarily occupy, Raymond told the police.

"When she appeared, I told her to return home but she asked me not to disturb her and let her go about her own business," he said.

When Nora kept on walking, Raymond bumped his motorcycle into her leg, pulled her hair and hit her in the face.

An eyewitness, who testified under the condition of anonymity, told the police that he saw Raymond pull Nora into their house before taking the woman to the hospital.

That night, Nora was rushed to the Mintohardjo marine hospital before being transferred to Cipto on account of the seriousness of her injuries.

According to officer Sigit, the police also seized Raymond's motorcycle and a bedsheet as evidence.

Police records reveal that Raymond was released from the notorious prison on Nusa Kambangan Island, Central Java, in January after serving 12 years for murder.

Staffer Bambang H.P. of the Cipto forensic department said Thursday that the victim suffered severe burn injuries over almost all of her body.

However, no bruises were found as her flesh had already started to decompose.

"We are still waiting for the final laboratory examination results to discover the cause of her death," he said. (ivy)