Witness says Gunawan vowed vengeance before escape

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A witness testified on Thursday that defendant Gunawan Santoso, who has been charged with ordering the assassination of PT Aneka Sarana Bakti (Asaba) president director Boedyharto Angsono, had vowed to "commit a vengeful act against a person who had treated him unfairly".

Bambang Irawan, warden chief of the Kuningan penitentiary in Cirebon, West Java, told the North Jakarta District Court that Gunawan -- who was sentenced on June 2002 to a 28-month prison term for embezzling money from PT Asaba -- became restless and began speaking his mind and plotting revenge, days before he escaped from prison in February last year.

"Gunawan once told me that he was treated like a worthless cockroach," Bambang told the courtroom. "He did not state clearly who the (object of his vengeance) was."

In his earlier statement to the police, Bambang claimed that it was Gunawan's former father-in-law Boedyharto who had mistreated him.

Bambang also stated that the corruption convict escaped, with the full knowledge of at least one guard. "Gunawan sneaked away and was escorted by one of the prison guards ... at Kuningan penitentiary," he said.

Gunawan is accused of ordering four marines to kill Boedyharto and his bodyguard, Army Special Forces member Second Sgt. Edi Siyep, in July last year in the parking lot of the Sasana Krida Sports Stadium in Penjaringan, North Jakarta.

The prosecutors charged him under Article 340 of the Criminal Code, and if guilty, could get the death penalty.

Other witnesses said that after Gunawan escaped from prison, he used different names during his stay in a rented house on Jl. Gunung Sahari, Central Jakarta, where he was arrested. Gunawan also had plastic surgery and altered the color of his skin.

A security guard at the rented house, Nurdin and housemaid Tukinah said they knew Gunawan as Calvin Martin, while house owner Sumaji Sukandi testified that the defendant introduced himself as Indra Amarta.

Sumaji said that Gunawan often acted strangely. "He used to intentionally stay outside and get a sun burn."

Presiding judge I Wayan Padang Pudjawan adjourned the trial until March 30.