Two indicted for kidnapping baby

Two indicted for kidnapping baby

JAKARTA (JP): Two women were indicted at Central Jakarta
District Court Tuesday on charges of kidnapping a 17-day-old baby
girl from a woman who was sentenced by the same court to one year
in jail for committing a similar offense in 1996.

Prosecutor Shinta Shasanti said the defendants, identified as
Dasiyah, 25, and Sumiati, 29, snatched the baby from Yanti's lap
in the compound of the Istiqlal Mosque in Central Jakarta on Feb.
24.

Dasiyah and Sumiati entered the mosque compound at 4 p.m. when
Yanti was breast-feeding her baby, Ika Febrianty.

"When Yanti fell asleep, the defendants approached her and
Dasiyah snatched the baby from her," Shinta said.

The defendants left the scene quickly, but in doing so, raised
the suspicions of Amir, a security guard at the mosque, she said.

Amir approached the two women and questioned them as they
waited for a bajaj (three-wheeled taxi), she said.

Shinta said the security guard apprehended the women and
handed them into a nearby police station after they gave
confusing answers to his questions.

Dasiyah, a scavenger, told police that she intended to sell
the baby to a buyer, identified as Yati, for Rp 50,000 (US$4.7),
she said. Yati is still at large.

Dasiyah asked her friend Sumiati, a beverage vendor, to assist
her and promised to give her half of the money she earned from
the crime, she said.

Shinta said Yanti, a scavenger, was sentenced to one year in
jail by the same court in 1996 for kidnapping a baby.

She said Dasiyah's husband, Sutarno, was serving out a
sentence for robbery in Salemba penitentiary.

Both Dasiyah and Sumiati are being held at the Pondok Bambu
detention center for women.

Dasiyah said that she attempted to kidnap the baby because she
had been involved in a quarrel with Yanti a month before the
incident.

"Yanti was jealous of me. She accused me of having an affair
with her husband," she said.

Shinta charged the defendants under Article 328 of the
Criminal Code which carries a maximum sentence of 12 years in
jail.

Presiding judge Abas Sumantri adjourned the trial until next
week to hear witnesses' testimonies. (jun)