Rape suspects act out roles in reconstruction

Rape suspects act out roles in reconstruction

JAKARTA (JP): Watched by dozens of press people, local
prosecutors, police and military personnel, the reconstruction of
last month's robbery and brutal rapes in Bekasi ran smoothly
yesterday morning.

"We can learn from here that all of the suspects played their
own roles according to their earlier confessions," Bekasi police
chief Lt. Col. Hari Pribadi told reporters after the two-and-a-
half hour reconstruction.

The reconstruction of the crime presented all of the 11
suspects along with three ex-prostitutes, who are still being
rehabilitated, to play the roles of the violated mother and her
two teenage daughters.

The 11 suspects were arrested a few days after the crime on
charges of raping a 43-year-old woman and her 14 and 15-year-old
daughters and robbery in the early hours of July 24.

As the suspects played their roles according to statements
they made during previous police questioning, police said they
will immediately complete the dossiers and hand them over to the
Bekasi prosecutors office by next week.

During yesterday's reconstruction some of the suspects refused
to continue, saying that there were too many people around,
particularly reporters.

Only after a bit of coaxing by local detectives did the
suspects continue.

Head of Bekasi prosecutor's office, Chairun Harahap, who was
also at the scene, said he strongly believed that the police have
arrested the correct people.

Earlier, some of the suspects' parents vowed that their
offspring had nothing to do with the robbery and rapes at the
Bekasi house. The suspects, through their lawyers, also have
claimed that they were tortured during police questioning in
order to get them to confess.

Police have denied the accusation. (bsr)