Spouse stabbed after 'years of abuse'

JAKARTA (JP): A 30-year-old housewife ended her seven-year marriage to a cruel man by stabbing him to death with a kitchen knife, police said.

When East Jakarta Police detectives interrogated her yesterday, Suyatmi -- the mother of a six-year-old girl -- allegedly admitted that she killed her husband because she was fed up with the way he treated her.

Police quoted her as saying that Ismail, a 40-year-old taxi driver, had savagely beaten her since they were married in 1990. Suyatmi was Ismail's second wife.

Suyatmi gave herself up to the police after she allegedly thrust the knife into Ismail's neck while he was sleeping in the couple's small, rented room on Jl. Eretan, in East Jakarta, Thursday.

A private television station yesterday aired an interview with the couple's daughter, Iis, who is believed to be the only witness to the killing.

"Mother had a knife, killed father," the girl said in broken speech.

"Father was stabbed, tortured, so he was bleeding. Then, mother reported it to the police."

Police found Ismail's body on a bed with the knife still protruding from his neck. He was taken to Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital in Central Jakarta for a postmortem examination.

According to their neighbors, the couple had quarreled from morning to afternoon on the day of the attack.

"I live next to their room so I could hear them," Asminah said.

"I didn't worry about it because it wasn't surprising for me, it was not their first quarrel."

Asminah said that Suyatmi often complained to her neighbors about the poor state of her marriage.

Suyatmi was also frustrated with Ismail's refusal to divorce his first wife, who lives in Slawi town in Central Java, Asminah said.

"I sometimes told her to be patient but she said she had had enough of her abusive husband."

On the day of the killing, Asminah said she saw Suyatmi lock the door and leave the room about 4 p.m. with her daughter. She apparently took her daughter with her when she reported the crime to police.

Forensic expert Mun'im Idries, of Cipto Mangunkusumo, defended Suyatmi's position, saying that the killing was triggered by years of frustration.

"If her testimony can be proved, she could be declared not guilty because she had been abused by her husband for many years," Mun'im said. "And she killed her husband in self-defense when he attacked her." (04/bsr)