Robot 'needs psychiatrist'

JAKARTA (JP): The lawyer defending a pedophile tried for killing six boys asked the Central Jakarta District Court yesterday to send his client to a psychiatrist.

The lawyer showed reporters his letter of request after the closed court session yesterday.

The letter said the defendant Siswanto, alias Robot, should be sent to a psychiatrist to find out whether he was responsible for sodomizing and killing the boys.

Lawyer Febry Irmansyah said outside the court in January that his client seemed mentally unwell.

Robot, 33, from Pekalongan Central Java, is accused of killing six boys aged between 11 and 15 years after sexually abusing them.

The former scavenger in Central and East Jakarta is also being investigated to see if he is linked to the deaths of four other boys in East Jakarta.

According to police, Robot confessed to killing 12 boys.

He was arrested in Tegal, Central Java on Aug. 5 after a massive police manhunt for a serial killer.

The boy's bodies were found between September 1995 and August 1996. (13)