Police finally name Oki as main suspect in murder
Police finally name Oki as main suspect in murder
JAKARTA (JP): Police finally named Harnoko Dewantono, alias Oki, 30, yesterday as the main suspect in the murder of two Indonesians and an Indian national in Los Angeles.
"Based on a report made by my team currently investigating the case in Los Angeles, I can say that there is adequate material evidence to make him a suspect in the murder," outgoing City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Mochammad Hindarto told reporters yesterday.
"But there are still possibilities for another case," he said without giving further detail.
According to Hindarto, Oki is believed to be the only suspect in the killing of Gina Sutan Aswar, a woman, Oki's brother Tri Harto Dewantono, known as Eri, and Suresh Michandani of Indian origin.
Gina and Michandani were Oki's business partners.
The decomposed bodies of the three victims were found in August last year in a storage locker in Los Angeles and were identified four months later.
The precise date of the murders has not been released but are estimated to have taken place at different places between 1991 and 1993.
Hindarto, who is going to be replaced on Friday, said all evidence found by the Los Angeles police are comparable with the dossiers they compiled.
For instance, a bullet found in Michandani's head is identical to the gun used by Oki, which was registered under Eri's name, he said.
When asked about a report that the Los Angeles police refused to hand over all the evidence to the Jakarta police, Hindarto simply said: "The negotiation is still going on."
Today, the Indonesian police team will question at least three witnesses -- Michandani's wife and two of Oki's friends, identified as Rebecca and Wanda, said Hindarto.
Rebecca, he said, is the one who was once asked by Oki to keep the gun he used to commit the crime, while Wanda, one of the key witnesses, is believed to have made a series of telephone calls prior to the arrival of Gina from Paris on Nov. 1.
More witnesses
The team, consisting of six senior Jakarta police detectives, reports any progress they make to Hindarto every day.
"They might question more witnesses later," he said.
Hindarto refused to further elaborate on the team's tentative findings about the way the suspect killed the victims and the tools he used.
"The team's findings are not the same as what Oki has told us. Thus, we have to counter them later," he argued.
Based on the team's findings, the victims were killed at three different places and then kept at three different locations before being placed together in the storage locker, he said.
Hindarto once said that Oki had admitted to killing the three victims but on another occasion the city police said Oki confessed to killing only Eri who, he claimed, had earlier murdered Gina and Michandani.
"During a series of questioning, we found that Oki made various versions," Hindarto said over the weekend. "That's why we need strong evidence to counter his versions."
Just after the identification of the three bodies last month, Los Angeles police issued a warrant for the arrest of Oki as the main suspect of the murder.
Oki was taken into custody on Jan. 7 in Central Jakarta on the allegation of passport forgery. Last week questioning began for his alleged role in the triple murder after allegations were made by the Los Angeles police.
As of yesterday, Indonesia and the United States, which have no extradition treaty, had not reached an agreement on the trial setting for the case.
But Hindarto yesterday insisted: "There's no consensus (with Washington) in this case, we want the suspect to be tried in Jakarta because he's an Indonesian citizen."
Lawyers
Based on Indonesia's existing law, a suspected criminal with Indonesian citizenship who committed a crime overseas can be tried at the Central Jakarta district court.
Yesterday police allowed Hendarno Hendarmin, Oki's father, to meet the suspect after two weeks in custody. No reports were available yet about their meeting.
Oki is now facing another problem: representation.
Reports said that he had rejected lawyers from Ruhut Sitompoel, Tommy Sihotang & Associates who were appointed by his father, Hendarno Hendarmin.
Oki is believed to have named lawyers from Amir Syamsuddin & Partners to defend him in court.
"I have a written request by Oki dated today for us to represent him," Amir, who admitted had met Oki while he was in police custody, told The Jakarta Post.
The letter, made available to the Post, was signed by Oki. (bsr)