Three arrested for stabbing of HK man
Three arrested for stabbing of HK man
JAKARTA (JP): North Jakarta Police detectives took three days
to arrest three men in connection with a brutal attack on a Hong
Kong national on Wednesday night.
Chief of North Jakarta Police High Comr. Andi Chaeruddin said
on Saturday the three suspects, identified as Hasan, Yadi and
Nurman, were arrested separately earlier in the day at their
residences on Jl. Budi Kemuliaan in North Jakarta, and in the
Sawah Besar subdistrict of West Jakarta.
Andi said the suspects assaulted 45-year-old Lai Ho Yen, on
Wednesday night, and left him dying near the hydrothermal power
station in North Jakarta, with 19 stab wounds to his back and
stomach.
Police also seized some Rp 15 million (US$1,579) in cash in
various currencies belonging to Lai from the trio.
"We are investigating whether this was just a robbery, or
whether these men were told to murder Lai, and make it look like
a robbery," Andi said.
Barely alive, Lai was found handcuffed and with his mouth
gagged by two security guards, M. Nasir and Agustiar. The guards
then rushed Lai to the nearest hospital in Koja.
Lai is currently receiving intensive treatment at the Cipto
Mangunkusumo general hospital, although doctors have stated that
the victim's chances of survival were very slim.
Police detectives had earlier planned to summon a local woman,
identified only as Wiwi, over the stabbing.
Wiwi, who turned out to be one of Lai's wives, met with some
reporters at the general hospital on Friday, and told reporters
that three hours before the attack, she had received a telephone
call from her husband who informed her that he was at Hotel
Quality on Jl. Pangeran Jayakarta in Central Jakarta.
Wiwi, who has given Lai two children, said his husband had
called her before the attack to tell her that he would soon
return to their home, located on Sufan lane of Jl. Mangga Besar
IX Dalam, West Jakarta.
She added that he had also canceled his plan, over the phone,
to bring their 11-month-old son to a doctor.
Quoting Lai, Wiwi said her husband was heading for home using
a taxi when he suddenly felt he was being followed. When he
alighted from the taxi on Sufan lane, he saw three men getting
out of a jeep.
"The three men first beat him up, and then handcuffed his
legs, before dragging him inside the jeep. It was in the jeep,
that the men stabbed Lai in the back and the stomach," Wiwi said.
"The men thought he was dead and drove the jeep around, until
they reached North Jakarta. They robbed Lai of HK$50,000
(US$6,842), US$200, two cellphones, a Hong Kong ATM card and a
ring, before they threw him out of the jeep and left him to die."
As reported earlier, an official from the Chinese Embassy,
Yang Pei Tung, confirmed on Thursday that Lai was Chinese.
Yang met Lai's first wife at the general hospital, who told
him that Lai was supposed to return to Hong Kong on Dec. 30 last
year.
"Mr. Lai's wife, Liu Fie Kim, said that Mr. Lai had arrived in
Jakarta on Dec. 28 last year and was supposed to return to Hong
Kong on Dec. 30, when suddenly he received a telephone call from
a friend. We do not know who this friend was," Yang said.
He added that Mr Lai's "friend" had asked to meet him on Jan.
3 at the Quality Hotel.
"First, he told Mm. Liu that the meeting was in room no. 501
of the hotel. The meeting was suddenly shifted to room no. 907,
and then to room no. 805. This was strange. Mme. Liu lost contact
with her husband after 1 a.m. on Thursday," Yang said. (ylt)