Taxi driver murdered

Taxi driver murdered

JAKARTA (JP): A 22-year-old man was arrested by South Jakarta police on Sunday morning for allegedly killing a taxi driver in an effort to get money to help his ailing mother.

Police said Amanu, an employee of a cleaning service company at the Ministry of Cooperative Affairs on Jl. Rasuna Said, has admitted to killing Marsasak Sipahuras, 38, a driver of the Jakarta International Taxi company.

City Police spokesman Lt. Col. Iman Haryatna said yesterday that the suspect, who lives in the ministry compound, told interrogators that he had been very upset after being informed on Saturday evening that his mother was sick in his hometown Lamongan, East Java.

He was very frustrated because he had no money, either to return home or to buy medicine for his mother, Iman said. Amanu finally decided to commit a robbery, he said.

The suspect first took a knife from the office kitchen and wrapped it with a cloth, Iman said.

He then took a bus to Pasar Rumput, Central Jakarta, in search of potential victims.

Finally, he hailed a taxi and asked the driver to take him to the ministry office. On the way there, Amanu pulled out his knife and demanded money from Sipahuras.

However, the driver punched him in the eye, whereupon Amanu stabbed the driver in the neck.

Panicking, the suspect stole the taxi's meter and the radio equipment, rather than the driver's money. He left the taxi with the dead driver inside. A passing policeman became suspicious upon noticing Amanu rushing from the taxi.

Questioned, Amanu told the officer, Corp. Adi Suntoro, that he had just helped a dying man.

The officer arrested Amanu, who eventually confessed to the murder, Iman said. (bsr)