Police to resubmit Adiguna case file this week

Police to resubmit Adiguna case file this week

Abdul Khalik
The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The well-connected businessman, a son of former state-owned
oil and gas company Pertamina Ibnu Sutowo, has been detained at
the city police headquarters since early January.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has instructed the police
to investigate the case thoroughly.

Jakarta Police promised on Monday to resubmit the case file
of Adiguna Sutowo, the sole suspect in the murder of Yohannes
Berchmans "Rudy" Haerudy Natong, in two or three days.

Police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani said he had ordered his
officers to quickly resubmit the case file to demonstrate that
they were serious in handling the case.

"We can complete all that the prosecutors asked us to do in
one week. So, we can resubmit the case file this week. We hope
that prosecutors will bring the case to court next week," said
Firman on the sidelines of a regional police chiefs' meeting at
the National Police Headquarters.

He added that the police had gathered enough evidence and
witnesses to charge Adiguna in court.

Prosecutors returned Adiguna's case file to police last week,
asking that inconsistencies be rectified.

Prosecutor Andi Herman said the main weakness of the case file
submitted by the police was the conflicting information in
affidavits by witnesses, who claim that Rudy was shot from a
distance of around one meter in the Hilton hotel's Fluid Bar in
Central Jakarta on Jan. 1, and laboratory tests by Mun'im Idris,
a forensic expert from the University of Indonesia, suggesting
Rudy was shot from several meters away.

The forensic test result opens the possibility of another
person being involved in the shooting.

Andi said his office had asked the police to resolve the
contradictory evidence by including statements by ballistic
experts either from National Police Headquarters or city police
headquarters in the case file.

Prosecutors also asked the National Police Headquarters to
confirm whether the gun was licensed, and to reveal the owner of
the gun if it was licensed.

Firman, however, did not say if the police had established
that the gun allegedly used in the fatal shooting was licensed or
whether Adiguna was its owner.

Adiguna, a younger brother of Ponco Sutowo, a majority
shareholder of the Hilton, has been charged under Article 338 of
the Criminal Code, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years'
imprisonment, and Article 1 of Emergency Law No. 12/1951, which
carries the maximum sentence of death.

Ibox
When does a shooting leave a trace?

Eyewitnesses in Rudy's murder have told investigators that the
trainee waiter was shot from about one meter away, while a
forensic test done by Mun'im Idris concluded he was shot from
several meters away. Mun'im's conclusion was partly based on the
fact that he found no trace of gunpowder residues in Rudy's
wound.

But when does a shooting leave a trace?

According to forensic expert Handoko, close range is 75
centimeters, and far away if more than one meter.

"If somebody is shot in between that range then the shooting
will leave a trace of, among other things, gunpowder around the
wound," he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Handoko said the farther the target from the shooter, the less
traces it leaves.

"Also, the smaller the bullet, the less it trace leaves in the
wound. A .22 caliber bullet used in a shooting is considered very
small, and at the range of 90 centimeters, we found no trace of
gunpowder from such small bullet," he said.

"So, it is logical that they found no trace in the forensic
tests (on Rudy) because the range could be over 90 centimeters.

"Also, it is illogical to conclude that Rudy was shot from
several meters away because the bullet hit Rudy with such
precision," Handoko said.