Police to question suspects over boyband a1 tragedy
Police to question suspects over boyband a1 tragedy
JAKARTA (JP): West Jakarta Police detectives are scheduled to
question on Wednesday two of five suspects in a tragic incident
involving British boyband a1.
Four girls were crushed to death when fans struggled to meet
the band during a promotional event at Taman Anggrek mall in West
Jakarta last month.
"Two suspects are from Sony Music Indonesia, the company that
brought the boyband to Indonesia. Their names cannot be published
because they are going to be questioned on Wednesday," West
Jakarta Chief of Detectives Adj. Comr. Syahar Diantono said on
Tuesday.
Syahar also said that chief director of Sony Music Indonesia,
Susanto Hartono, had been questioned on Tuesday as a witness in
the case.
"Let us finish this investigation first ... we need to
complete the dossiers for this case as soon as possible and hand
them over to state prosecutors. This case needs to be seen as an
example so that such carelessness is not repeated," Syahar said.
He identified the three other suspects as Agung Wibowo, Anita
Trianto and Soni Subagyo, all of whom are employees at Tarra
Megastore, which hosted the promotional event on March 18.
Syahar said these three suspects were not being detained by
police. He said Soni and Agung were not detained after their
lawyer, Amir Syamsuddin, guaranteed his clients would not flee.
Anita was not arrested because she is "in her 70s ... and to old
to be held in police custody".
"All five suspects are being investigated under Article 359 of
the Criminal Code on culpable negligence leading to death,"
Syahar said. This article carries a maximum punishment of five
years in jail.
"The suspects failed to obtain a police permit to hold the fan
gathering. They failed to anticipate that a venue as small as
the Tarra Megastore could not possibly accommodated the huge
crowd that came for the in-store autograph signing session.
"Had they applied for a police permit, police officers would
have been deployed at the mall to secure the event. It was just
sheer carelessness," he said.
The four victims were Nurdian Wali, Indri Ayuningtyas
Dharmawan, 17, and sisters Rani Sintami, 13, and Eka Wanti, 20.
(ylt)