Sacred site devotees attacked 1 dead
Sacred site devotees attacked 1 dead
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung
A man was killed when an identified assailant ran amok and
attacked five visitors with a machete at the sacred Mbah Cacag
Ganti burial site in Sumedang regency, West Java, on Wednesday.
Karmin, 55, died at the scene and three others; Wahya, 50,
Enok, 35 and Dawam, 55, were severely injured, while Diana, 36,
sustained light injuries.
The motive of the attack remains unclear.
The victims were rushed to the Sumedang General Hospital as
they suffered slash wounds to the head and legs during the sudden
attack at Narimbang village in Conggeang subdistrict at around 1
a.m.
Sumedang Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Yoyok Subagyono revealed
that the unidentified man used a machete and a block of wood in
the attack.
"According to the victims, the assailant suddenly attacked
them blindly in the middle of the night," Yoyok told journalists
on Wednesday evening.
Most of the villagers only found about the incident the next
morning as the site is quite far away from any residential area.
Diana, one of the survivors, managed to flee and cried for
help with blood still streaming down her head.
As of Wednesday evening, the Sumedang police had questioned at
least five witnesses, including the caretaker of the burial site.
"We're still looking for the perpetrator and trying to discern
what his motives were. Tentatively, we suspect it was the result
of a dispute among the caretakers fighting for control of the
sacred place," Yoyok said.
There was also the possibility that the attack was the work of
an insane person, he added.
The victims were all visitors from Jangga village in Losarang
subdistrict, Indramayu regency. Mbah Cacag Ganti's gravesite is
considered a sacred place that draws many guests from other
towns.
Visitors mostly come on Thursday nights or on Islamic holidays
to say prayers asking the spirit of the late Mbah Cacag Ganti to
bestow upon them a better life, such as good fortune, finding
wife or husband or a job promotion.