Police dismayed over street justice murders
Police dismayed over street justice murders
JAKARTA (JP): West Jakarta Police and Bekasi Police were
dismayed by the number of vigilante murders that occurred on
Wednesday evening.
"What can I say? When local residents get angry and get their
hands on suspected thieves, there's nothing we can do," West
Jakarta police chief Col. Adjie Rustam Ramdja told reporters on
the sidelines of the transfer-of-duty ceremony at the South
Jakarta Police on Thursday.
Bekasi Police chief Lt. Col. Sutarman added that angered
residents with fuel on their hands and "the will to burn," would
do so on impulse, irrespective of the consequences.
"It just does not matter anymore whether they really saw the
suspected thief or thieves stealing or not. They just gang up
together, and burn," Sutarman told reporters in a telephone
interview.
Both police chiefs were speaking in reference to the mob
burnings of four suspected motorcycle thieves who died in the
Jati Murni village of Pondok Gede, Bekasi, at about 7:10 p.m. on
Wednesday, and the mob killing of one suspected motorcycle thief
in the Duri Kosambi subdistrict of Cengkareng, West Jakarta, on
Wednesday at midnight.
In the Cengkareng case, the suspected thief, identified as
Ricky, 35, had tried to steal a black Honda Grand Astrea
motorcycle, which was being driven by Ronald, 18, a resident of
the Kosambi Baru housing complex on Wednesday night.
"Ronald started screaming for help. Residents came and jumped
on the suspect and beat him. Ricky died on his way to Kramat Jati
police hospital," Adjie said.
In Bekasi, four men -- three unidentified and one identified
as Kantra, 27, a resident of Jati Rangon village in Bekasi --
had entered the courtyard of Soeyatno's residence in the Rambutan
lane of Jati Murni village and tried to steal Soeyatno's Honda
Grand Astrea motorcycle.
"When Soeyatno saw this, he began to scream 'Thief! Thief!',
and local residents started chasing the four men," Sutarman said.
"The thieves started running. When residents caught up with
them, they beat the four men so badly that they started to
uncontrollably defecate while crying out for mercy."
"The four were then stripped naked. Fuel was poured over them.
They were burned alive. The stench was horrible." (ylt)