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)