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)