Two train passengers murdered in two days
Two train passengers murdered in two days
BANDUNG (JP): Two passengers died in two different economy-
class trains on Monday and Tuesday, forcing railway company PT
Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) to engage in further efforts to
improve security on board its trains.
On Tuesday, a 20-year-old woman, Tri Wijayati, was found dead
with severe slash wounds to her neck on the Pasundan train
serving the Surabaya-Bandung route.
The alleged murderer, a 19-year-old snack seller, was arrested
on Wednesday.
On Monday, passengers of the Padalarang-Cicalengka train were
shocked by the murder of a man, later identified as Jojon
Sarjono, a Cicalengka resident, while the train was running.
Witnesses said the employee of the Hyatt hotel in Bandung was
stabbed by an unidentified man, who managed to escape. Jojon died
at Hasan Sadikin General Hospital in Bandung. Police have yet to
find leads in the case.
Concerning Tuesday's murder, police said that Wijayati, an
employee of the well-known Kartikasari cake shop in Bandung, was
killed by Riyanto Wahyudi in a lavatory on the train.
Sutarto, the victim's elder brother, told reporters at the
hospital that his sister developed a stomachache after boarding
the train in Gombong Station in Central Java. The two were on
their way to Bandung.
"I escorted her to the lavatory several times before I heard
her scream and saw a man jump out from the lavatory window,"
Sutarto said.
Assisted by the train's dining car staffers, he broke down the
lavatory door and found his sister fatally injured with slash
wounds to the neck.
At about 10 a.m. Wednesday, Kiaracondong railway station
security guards arrested a teenager in blood-stained clothes and
with a wound to the head.
The teenager, later identified as Riyanto Wahyudi, was
followed from the time he boarded the Cibatu-Purwakarta train.
Local security guards called Bandung Station officials, alerting
them of the suspect.
Riyanto told the police he jumped out of the car after killing
the woman, and, with broken shoulder bones and wounds to his
head, he went to the Lebakrejo railway station and took the train
before the security guards apprehended him in Kiaracondong.
He admitted to using a cutting knife to slash Wijayati's neck.
He said he carried out the killing upon the order of Yus Benhard,
the victim's former boyfriend.
"He promised me Rp 4 million for the job, and I got Rp 25,000
in a down payment."
Benhard became jealous after hearing that Wahyuni was to marry
another man, Riyanto said.
Benhard is still at large.
Death penalty
Chief of the Bandung Police Sr. Supt. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo
said that Riyanto violated Article 340 of the Criminal Code, and
might be sentenced to death for the first degree murder he
committed.
Last April, a 22-year-old woman, identified as Febriana
Farida, was stabbed to death on the express Parahyangan train.
Her boyfriend suffered serious wounds. Police have yet to declare
a suspect in the murder.
One month later, the railway company discovered the death of
Oloan Sianturi, the father of national gymnast Jonathan Sianturi,
on the luxurious Argo Bromo train. The case has yet to be
clarified.
Spokesman for PT KAI's Bandung office Akhmad Sujadi admitted
that his company had paid less attention to security on economy-
class trains.
Two days before Tuesday's killing, Gatot Wibowo, the spokesman
for the railway company, said in an interview with The Jakarta
Post that as many as 400 security officers would be deployed at
10 big stations in Java in an effort to improve service to
passengers.
A large number of students from Islamic boarding schools have
been voluntarily helping PT KAI security guards to protect train
passengers from possible crime at the stations. (25/sur)