Police have yet to find driver of speedy sedan

Police have yet to find driver of speedy sedan

JP/3/IKHLAS

Police have yet detained driver of speedy sedan

JAKARTA (JP): Police have not yet detained the driver of the sedan which sped onto a sidewalk and killed five students in South Jakarta last week.

"He is now at his parents' home after being treated at the hospital due to the injuries he suffered in the accident," a source at his house told The Jakarta Post Thursday.

By law, the police should have put the 21-year-old man, identified as Irwan Effendi Wirahardjo, into a detention house on the charges of speeding and negligence which led to the deaths and the injury of two others.

"According to the latest information we have Irwan and his girlfriend are still at a hospital in South Jakarta for treatment of serious head injuries," Second Lt. Suyatno, head of the traffic unit of Kebayoran Lama police subprecinct, which is handling the case, said.

"We'll soon put him in detention for further investigation of the case as soon as he leaves the hospital," Suyatno assured.

Reliable sources at the MMC hospital on Jl Rasuna Said, Kuningan, South Jakarta, the place where Irwan was treated, said that Irwan had left the hospital on Thursday morning.

"He went out this morning together with San-San after being treated here since a week ago," a nurse, who refused to be identified, told the Post.

San-San is the nickname of Irwan's girlfriend, Swandawati, also 21 and a university student, who was along with Irwan inside the late model Toyota Starlet sedan when it knocked down the students.

The accident took place at around 11:30 a.m. last Tuesday on the Juraganan thoroughfare near the Permata Hijau crossroad.

All of the victims, aged between 12 and 15 years old, were first-year male students of the Islamic SMP Al-Ikhlas, which is about a 10-minute walk from the site of the accident.

Police and witnesses said that two of the dead students were flung 15 meters and over a 2.5- meter fence onto the grounds of a warehouse located near the scene. The other five bodies were found laying on and around a shallow drain and the sidewalk.

Settlement

Suyatno said Irwan's families and the parents of the dead and injured students reached an out-of-court settlement early this week.

"His family has paid a certain amount of compensation to the victims' parents and will pay for the medical fees of the injured students," he said, but declined to state the precise amount.

Irwan, a resident of Jl. Karet Pedurenan 27, Karet Kuningan, South Jakarta, is the son of a batik producer.

Earlier, the victims' parents -- mostly poor families -- rejected any possibility of such a settlement and demanded the driver be tried for negligence.

But Suyatno said that although both parties have reached what he called a peaceful settlement Irwan still has to face the court for reckless driving and negligence which led to the death of other people.

"It's a crime," he insisted.(bsr)