Taxi driver killed on Bekasi toll road
Taxi driver killed on Bekasi toll road
JAKARTA (JP): A taxi driver was stabbed to death by two
passengers on Bekasi Timur toll road on Saturday.
A police officer at the Bekasi Police precinct said the motive
for the murder was unknown. However, he speculated that Dede
Kuswara knew his attackers and a grudge was behind the killing.
Dede was a driver for taxi company PT Centris Wahana.
The victim's wallet which contained money and personal
documents was not stolen. The taxi was also left in good
condition.
Quoting the manager at the taxi pool, police said that Dede
had reported to the pool by radio that he was taking two
passengers from Jl. Mergaya, Bekasi, to Bandung. Dede said he
would travel on the toll road leading to Cikampek.
Dede did not stop the taxi when entering the toll gate and the
tollbooth attendant called the attendants at the Cikampek toll
gate to stop the taxi.
Two patrol officials of the tollway company PT Jasa Marga sped
after the speeding cab.
About 10 minutes later, they found the cab stopped at the
roadside with its left front tire flat.
The patrol officers found the driver dead in the cab with
severe wounds to the stomach and neck and a blood-stained knife
next to the body.
They then reported the matter to the police.
Police officers who arrived few minutes later said they
believed the killers jumped over the fence of the toll road and
entered a residential area.
Fellow drivers
Meanwhile, some of Dede's fellow drivers who visited Cipto
Mangunkusumo general hospital's morgue refused to believe a
grudge was the motive for the killing.
"Dede was a kind man. He did not have any enemies," one of the
drivers told The Jakarta Post.
He said Dede looked pale before leaving the taxi pool and
some friends told him not to work the day he was killed.
Dede worked as a Centris Wahana taxi driver for one and a half
years.
Dede, a resident of Jl. Rawa Badak in Tanjung Priok district,
North Jakarta, is survived by wife Uswati and three children.
Uswati said that her husband had recently complained about his
health. "But he couldn't explain what he really felt," the 39-
year-old widow said.
She said that their son Tomy, who has just graduated from a
technical high school, asked her husband on Friday whether he
should go to university or start working.
Tomy's younger sisters, Nursanti and Sani, still attend
school.
The murder of Dede was the second murder this week. The first
murder took place on Jl. Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta on Friday.
A bajaj (small three-wheeled taxi) passenger, Sarwo Edy, was
stabbed to death by three unidentified men while protecting a
relative against robbery. His killers are also still at large.
(jun)