Robbers fleece home of Australian, judge

JAKARTA: A judge and an Australian citizen became the victims of robbery when two different groups of armed men robbed their houses, located in separate areas in South Jakarta, on Tuesday morning.

The first robbery occurred at 3 a.m. at a house on Gang Masjid, Jl. Benda, Cilandak, South Jakarta, belonging to an Australian, Shawn Whitehurst, who had left for a holiday with his family on Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.

Whitehurst reportedly works at drilling firm PT Maxi Drill.

The robbers broke into the premises through the gate and threatened the maids, Roikal, 37, and Yani, 45.

"Five robbers forced us to show them where the keys to the cars in the garage were kept," said Roikal.

The robbers took away a red Isuzu Panther with license number B-8291-PP, a 29-inch TV set and a Polytron tape deck. They left the scene after locking Roikal and Yani in a room.

Another robbery took place at 5 a.m. in the house of Zaenal Abidin, a judge at the South Jakarta District Court, in the judges' housing complex on Jl. Ampera, Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta.

"They only managed to take away three cell phones and a pair of glasses because Zaenal Abidin woke up," said Pasar Minggu Police substation chief Comr. Didi.

The robbers pointed their gun at Zaenal and then fired in the air before fleeing the scene.

"The robbers may have used a gas gun only to scare their victim, as we failed to find any projectiles at the scene," said Didi. --JP