Three arrested for rape in Bekasi

Three arrested for rape in Bekasi

JAKARTA (JP): Acting on a tip-off from the victims, Bekasi
police on Tuesday morning arrested three men believed to have
robbed a couple and raped the woman a few hours earlier at the
lonely Bekasi Stadium in Caringin Jaya subdistrict.

According to police, the three -- Ruslan, 30, Feri Agustin
Yohana, 28, and Iwan Wibawa, 24 -- first robbed LG, 49, and the
woman SN, 34, before encircling the man's throat with a sickle
while one of them raped SN.

The status of the relationship between LG and SN is confused
as Bekasi police chief Lt. Col. Adjie Rustam Ramdja identified
them as uncle and niece, while Greater Jakarta police spokesman
Lt. Col. Edward Aritonang named the two as a married couple.

Police quoted LG and SN as saying that they were waiting for a
public minivan at a bus shelter near the Bekasi Stadium at about
9 p.m. Monday when the gang of three approached and -- with their
sharp weapons drawn at the victims -- dragged the couple into the
empty stadium.

There, the two were forced to hand over their cash worth Rp
55,000 and LG's wristwatch to the crooks.

According to Aritonang, Ruslan raped the woman after grabbing
Rp 35,000 from her.

He said the victims then managed to escape and reported the
incident to the nearby police, who then rushed to the stadium to
question several witnesses.

In the early hours of Tuesday, the local police "managed to
arrest the suspects at their respective houses in Bekasi,"
Aritonang said.

Ruslan was arrested while sleeping at his house in the
Kejagung housing complex.

"The suspect was probably tired after raping the woman. Police
had no difficulties arresting him," Aritonang said.

Feri was apprehended at his house on Jl. Komodo Raya and Iwan
at his home on Jl. Guntur, he added.

All of the suspects were jobless people who often hung around
at the stadium.

According to officer Adjie Rustam, the rape victim underwent
a medical examination on Tuesday.

"She's still shocked over the incident," he explained.

But, he said that LG was the victim's uncle and not her
husband.

The incident was the latest of a series of rape cases in the
Greater Jakarta area in the past few months.

On Aug. 13, police arrested six young men for raping a teenage
girl at a boarding house on Jl. Wijaya I, Kebayoran, South
Jakarta.

The men gave the 15-year-old girl a barbiturate pill before
raping her.

A week later, two men were apprehended for the rape of a
female student at her boarding house in North Jakarta. The
suspects were construction workers who had duplicated the
boarding house key. (jun)