Three teenagers arrested on murder charge
JAKARTA (JP): Police have arrested three of the four teenagers suspected of beating and stabbing to death a friend at an amusement center in East Jakarta on Monday.
The three are identified as Arnold, 13, a primary school student, Rendy, also 13, a primary school drop-out, and his brother, Ujang, 17, a senior high school student, City Police Spokesman Lt. Col. Iman Haryatna said yesterday.
The other suspect, identified as Yossy, is still at large.
Based on eyewitness accounts and police investigations, Rendy is believed to have fatally stabbed Muchammad Lutfiansyah, 20, a senior high school graduate, after the victim asked his friend not to give Rendy any money, Iman said.
"Rendy, together with three other suspects, beat the helpless victim," the spokesman said.
Head of the East Jakarta police detectives, Maj. Endang Sunjaya, said that Arnold and Rendy were arrested several hours after the bloody incident at a pinball amusement center close to the Kampung Melayu bus terminal.
"Ujang was apprehended today," Endang told The Jakarta Post yesterday.
The victim was reportedly playing at the amusement center at around 2 p.m. with his friend, Raden Sutrisna, 22, when a teenage boy, later identified as Rendy, came in and asked them for money.
"When the little boy came over to me, Lutfiansyah reminded me not to give him any," Sutrisna said in his testimony.
According to Sutrisna, Rendy then turned away but came back to the site, this time along with his three other accomplices, including his brother, Ujang.
"The group then immediately came to Lutfiansyah and beaten him with the amusement center's chairs," Sutrisna said.
During the fight, spokesman Iman said, Rendy stabbed Lutfiansyah in the stomach before leaving the scene together with his friends.
Sutrisna rushed his dying friend to the nearby Mitra Keluarga hospital, where Lutfiansyah died a few hours later.
The local police who arrived at the site minutes after receiving the report arrested Arnold, who was still playing in the amusement center.
Based on Arnold's statement, the other two were then apprehended, Iman said.
Rendy's knife has also been seized as an evidence.
According to Endang, the parents of the last suspect, Yossy, had earlier promised to give their son up to the police yesterday afternoon.
"It seems that his parents failed to keep their word," Endang said. Yossy's house was later found to be empty.
Spokesman Imam said that the teenage suspects, if found guilty, will face a maximum jail term of 12 years.
Thousands of amusement centers in and around the city have been used by teenagers and uniformed students as meeting places during and after school hours.
A city regulation prohibits teenagers and uniformed students entering such places. According to the regulation, the owners can be punished if teenagers and uniformed students are found inside. But the enforcement of the regulation has been sporadic thus far. (bsr/04)