Wanted rapist of night bus passenger captured
Wanted rapist of night bus passenger captured
JAKARTA (JP): Police on Tuesday evening arrested a man
believed to have participated in a gang rape on a hitchhiker last
week in front of the Indonesian Christian University (UKI) in
Cawang, East Jakarta.
The suspect, identified as Toni Matondang, 30, a resident of
East Jakarta, was arrested at around 7 p.m. near the Cawang
intersection while extorting money from bus drivers who parked
their vehicles there, said Lt. Col. Latief Rabar, a spokesman for
City Police.
During preliminary bouts of interrogation by the Makassar
police, Toni reportedly confessed to the rape, adding that he
committed it along with a friend, who was still at large as of
yesterday.
"He has informed police about the identity and the whereabouts
of the other suspected rapist. We hope to capture him soon,"
Latief said yesterday.
Toni and nine friends, notorious extortionists of public bus
drivers, initially intended to rob the bus owned by PT Prospek
which was parked in front of the UKI campus in Cawang, East
Jakarta, around 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 24. The firm is based in
Citeureup, Bogor.
The firm's bus parks every night in front of the campus, which
serves as a drop-off point for the firm's night-shift employees
and pick-up point for the morning-shift workers living in
Jakarta.
When Toni and friends entered the bus that morning, there were
three people inside: driver Slamet, 23, Syahrizal, 27, and a 27-
year-old female hitchhiker identified by her initials Ms, a
resident of Ciawi, Bogor.
ID problem
The toughs demanded money from Slamet, who handed over all the
money, Rp 7,000 (US$3.20), he had, but denied them entry. Upon
seeing a woman sitting alone in the rear seat, Toni and a friend
forced their way through the window and asked for her
identification card.
The woman reportedly was unable to produce an ID card to prove
her Jakarta citizenship.
"This woman has no ID card. We must report her to the
neighborhood chief," said Toni while dragging the ill-fated woman
out of the bus.
Instead of reporting her to neighborhood chief, both of them
then took her to some bushes some 300 meters away, and raped her
one after the other while threatening her with a big stick.
They then stole her gold necklace and three gold rings, valued
at Rp 650,000 ($299).
Meanwhile, Slamet managed to evade the supervision of eight
other extortionists who were watching over him and Syahrizal
while Toni and his friend committed the rape.
Slamet then reported the case to the nearby UKI police
station. Upon seeing police arrive on the scene, the band quickly
dispersed, including Toni and his friend who had just gotten off
of the victim and had stolen the woman's jewelry. (jsk)