Taxi driver brutally murdered in morning robbery in Bekasi

Taxi driver brutally murdered in morning robbery in Bekasi

JAKARTA (JP): A 50-year-old taxi driver was found dead on
Sunday morning in a vacant field in Tambun, Bekasi, with severe
slash wounds over most of his body and face, an officer said.

Second Lt. Harianto of the Bekasi Police said the Prestasi
taxi driver, identified as Benny Yance, was brutally slashed
while in his vehicle and robbed by three men who were passengers
during the wee hours of the morning.

All three suspects, aged between 18 and 20, were arrested
within a few hours at their respective residences, due to a
report made by a security guard who spotted the stolen taxi
parked in front of one of the suspects' homes at Kampung Kompa,
Karangsatria subdistrict, also in Tambun, Harianto said.

The officer said two of the suspects, Asep Sujana, 18, and
Sahroji, 20, were arrested three hours after the killing, which
took place at 2:30 a.m.

The other suspect, Alex, 20, was arrested at 3 p.m. while he
was sleeping at his house, which is not far from the residences
of the other two.

Harianto said the body of the driver, a resident of Bekasi
Jaya subdistrict, also in Bekasi, was found by a local ojek
(motorcycle taxi) driver at 8 a.m. in the field of the Rawa
Kalong area of Tambun, Bekasi. His body, which was face
downwards, was covered with a mat.

The police were first informed about the taxi by Rohali, 35, a
security guard, who reported that the car's backseat was smeared
with blood.

The taxi was parked in front of his house, Harianto said.

"As he was suspicious about it, Rohali quickly reported the
find to the Tambun Police," he said.

It was later revealed that two of the suspects were Rohali's
neighbors.

The Tambun Police detectives, Harianto explained, first
arrived on the scene to pick up Asep Sujana and Sahroji for
questioning, but Alex was not there.

About the same time, the Tambun Police received a report from
another security guard about an ojek driver, who spotted a body
in an empty field.

Based on a preliminary investigation, the three suspects said
they tried to get one of the taxis parked near a market
development project in Bekasi to drive them to the Tambun area,
Harianto said.

"They tried to stop several taxis but failed. And Benny, who
had just arrived, picked them up," the officer said.

He said when they reached the empty field, they forced Benny
to hand over his money and the car, but he refused to do so.

Sahroji allegedly strangled Benny with a thick rope while the
other two reportedly slashed his body with a machete and a knife,
the officer said.

"Judging from the wounds to his hands, it appears that Benny
tried hard to resist them," Harianto said.

"Benny's body was dumped in that empty field, while the
suspects took off with the car," he said.

Separately, Benny's colleagues from the taxi company confirmed
the suspects' testimonies, saying that they refused to pick the
three men up because they acted suspiciously.

"It seemed that they were trying to hide something inside
their jackets," Waljiono told reporters at the Cipto Mangunkusumo
General Hospital's morgue.

"But Benny, who had just arrived and needed money, picked them
up right away, without giving us an opportunity to tell him that
these passengers were behaving strangely," Waljiono said.

Benny's wife did not bring their three children to identify
her husband's body after she was told about the severity of his
wounds, Waljiono said. (06)