Unemployed men arrested for beating friend to death

Unemployed men arrested for beating friend to death

JAKARTA (JP): Police in Tebet, South Jakarta, have arrested
five men, aged between 16 and 23, on charges of causing the death
of a member of their own group of friends after the victim lost a
drinking competition.

City Police Spokesman Lt. Col. Bambang Permantoro said
yesterday that two other suspects, members of the same group, are
still at large.

According to preliminary investigations, the victim,
identified as Harun, alias Ujang, 24, was brutally kicked and
beaten by his seven fellows after he failed to continue drinking
spirits at the birthday party of one of the suspects on Aug. 12.

The dying man is thought to have then been dumped by his
drunken attackers beside a railway track near the crime scene.
The fatal beating is believed to have taken place at Kampung
Melayu Barat in the Bukit Tinggi subdistrict.

"Ujang was later found (dying) by local people, who then
informed his relatives," Bambang said.

Initially, Ujang's relatives thought Ujang had been hit by a
train.

They immediately rushed Ujang to the Cipto Mangunkusumo
General Hospital in Central Jakarta. He died on Aug. 15.

The relatives only realized that Ujang had been assaulted by
his own friends after hearing accounts from a number people who
saw the fatal assault taking place, police said.

"Several hours before Ujang died, his relatives reported the
case to the local police," Bambang said.

The five suspects, identified as Ag, Nan, Ta, EM and EP, were
arrested at different places in and around Jakarta by Tebet
detectives on the following day.

The two suspects not yet apprehended have been identified as
Ek and Iw.

Most of the group members, including Ujang, are unemployed.
(bsr)