Three men mobbed for robbing taxi drivers

Three men mobbed for robbing taxi drivers

JAKARTA (JP): Two youths were severely beaten by an angry mob
in Central Jakarta yesterday after they allegedly assaulted and
robbed a taxi driver.

In a similar incident, a crowd of people attacked a man in
East Jakarta for allegedly trying to steal a taxi.

City Police spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang said the two
teenagers -- Jiko Handoko, 17, and Rahmat Nugroho, 16 -- were
being held at the Gambir Police precinct and the other suspect,
Srijatno, 30, was being treated at the police hospital in Kramat
Jati, East Jakarta.

He said Jiko and Rahmat allegedly stabbed their victim, the
driver of a Gading Taxi, in the stomach after he failed to comply
with their demands.

"Jiko admitted during interrogation that he stabbed Darlius
because the man refused to give up his money."

He said the driver, Darlius Madrus, 42, of the Galur
subdistrict in Central Jakarta, suffered severe wounds and was
treated in the emergency room of Cipto Mangunkusumo General
Hospital yesterday afternoon.

The two suspects hailed Darlius' taxi somewhere in Matraman,
East Jakarta, about 1 a.m. and asked the driver to take them to
the National Monument in Central Jakarta, he said.

When they stopped at the southwest gate of the monument, the
two threatened Darlius with knives and demanded money, but he
refused.

"Jiko, who was sitting beside Darlius, lost his temper and
stabbed Darlius in the stomach," he said.

"The courageous Darlius managed to open the door and jump out
of the car. He screamed out as he tried to run away."

Aritonang said Jiko and Rahmat must have panicked when they
saw people coming in their direction but they were unable to
restart the car.

Both got out of the car and tried to run away but the crowd
caught up with them and beat them before handing them over to
officers at the Gambir Police precinct, he said.

Aritonang said the other suspect, Srijatno, was attacked in
the Pulogadung area, East Jakarta, by a crowd of people who
allegedly saw him try to steal a Kopti Taxi while the driver was
urinating in the bushes about three meters from his taxi.

He said the taxi driver, Busmin Panjaitan, 43, stopped on Jl.
Alu Alu just before midnight.

"He did not turn the engine off because he thought it wouldn't
take him long to accomplish his mission."

"But the unemployed and homeless Srijatno was apparently
tempted by the idea of getting rich quickly and decided to steal
the taxi."

Aritonang said Busmin did not realize that Srijatno was in the
car until he heard the car's door being closed. Busmin shouted
for help and tried to open the driver's side door.

Srijatno either panicked or did not know how to drive so he
was a "sitting duck" for the angry crowd, he said. (cst)