Suspects retract their confessions to city police
Suspects retract their confessions to city police
JAKARTA (JP): Three suspects in the murder case of the family of Rohadi, brought in yesterday as witnesses for the defense of the main suspect, disavowed their earlier testimonies to city police.
Suparmi and her son Albertus and nephew Lambertus told the East Jakarta court in Pulo Mas that they did not take part in the murder as stated in the police report. Another witness, Clemence, also testified yesterday.
"I signed the testimony even though it was mainly dictated by the police," Suparmi, 41, told the court.
The police report submitted to the court cited Suparmi as an accomplice to her husband, Philipus Kia Lanjar, who is the main murder suspect.
The report said Suparmi knew about a plan to murder her neighbors, the Rohadi family. It added that she had brought knives for the purpose when she went to bring water to Philipus and their children, who were planting cassava trees near the Rohadi house.
"I was afraid of the police because I am a woman, weak and ignorant of the law, so I just confessed to whatever they told me," Suparmi told the court.
Suparmi's 16-year-old son, Albertus, told the court that he was beaten by the police to admit that he participated in the murder.
During yesterday's hearing he denied any role in the murder and said that he first heard about the murder after he returned from his afternoon-school session on Oct. 2 last year.
The murder of Rohadi's wife and his three children is believed to have occurred around noon on Oct. 2, 1995, in Rohadi's home in the eastern Jakarta district of Bambu Apus.
Lambertus, a nephew who was then spending the weekend with Philipus' family, also denied his participation in the allegedly premeditated murder.
The police report said that Lambertus took part in the murder. However, Lambertus told the court yesterday that he learned of it only after visiting the murder scene firsthand.
"I was taking a nap at the time and was abruptly awaken by the RT's wail upon seeing those mutilated corpses," Lambertus said referring to the neighborhood leader.
He then ran out to find out what had happened.
Lambertus told the court that the police threatened to throw him out of a police building window unless he confessed to the plot dictated by the police.
The three also testified that they were forced to reconstruct a murder that they knew nothing about.
Lack of coordination between court administrative and security personnel caused the trial to start later than scheduled.
Suspects were not brought to the court building until 10:30 a.m. even though the trial was scheduled for an hour earlier.
Yesterday's court hearing was the fourth in a series which started last January.
The court was only scarcely attended yesterday compared to the huge crowds that attended earlier trials of the case, which has attracted widespread media attention.
The fifth session is scheduled for March 4.(14)