UI expert worries on mutilation cases

UI expert worries on mutilation cases

JAKARTA (JP): Criminologist Erlangga Mesdiana from the
University of Indonesia is worried that the failure to solve
mutilation cases would lead others to imitate such sadistic
killings.

According to Erlangga, suspects in such murders normally
attempt to dispose of all evidence to hamper efforts by police to
identify the victims.

"This method may encourage other criminals to imitate the
crime," the expert told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Erlangga, therefore, strongly urged the police to do their
best and seriously probe the mutilation cases to arrest the
killers.

Otherwise, society, which has witnessed extreme violence by
vigilantes, particularly in the capital, could be influenced by
the sadistic murder, he said.

"A killer often suffers from depression, is easily bewildered
and is strongly influenced by his community," said Erlangga.

The latest mutilation case was reported in the media early
this week, with details of the discovery in three locations of
dismembered male body parts.

Several male body parts were found at the Manggarai floodgate
in Central Jakarta on Sunday afternoon. In the evening, the upper
part of an abdomen was discovered floating in the Muara Angke
fishing port in Sunda Kelapa, North Jakarta and the following
day, a leg was found in the Cideng River in Grogol, West Jakarta.

So far, Jakarta Police detectives have not announced any
progress in the investigation.

A day after the discoveries, a woman visited the morgue at the
Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital -- where the mutilated body
parts are kept -- and believes they might be the remains of her
missing brother.

She told the forensic pathologists that she needed to see the
other hand, which has clear identification marks, to confirm that
the dead man was her brother.

The left hand is still missing.

According to forensic expert Mun'im Idries, a man named
Kiswondo from Rawamangun, East Jakarta, came on Tuesday to
examine the remains. Kiswondo's 37-year-old son is missing.

Kiswondo believes that the body parts are not the remains of
his missing son, said Mun'im, who still hopes someone will be
able to identify the body. (07)