Jakarta. A high-ranking police officer on Thursday blamed slain policeman Brigadier Nopryansyah Yosua Hutabarat for harassing his wife which led to the fatal shooting by his personal assistant who has been named a murder suspect.
Second Patrolman Eliezer Pudihang Lumliu is charged with murder under the Criminal Code that carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
He and the victim worked as personal assistants to Inspector General Ferdy Sambo, the head of the Internal Profession and Security Division, when the fatal shooting occurred at the latter’s official residence in Jakarta on July 8.
Ferdy offered an apology to the National Police for the whole saga and extended condolences to the family of the deceased as he spoke to the media for the first time since the police began the investigation.
"I as the creature of God offer an apology to the National Police,” Ferdy, who dressed in police uniform with two-star insignias on his collar, said at the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta where he arrived for interrogation on Thursday.
A preliminary police investigation suggested that Yosua was involved in a shootout with Eliezer after he was caught harassing Ferdy’s wife Putri Candrawathi.
Police said Yosua was the first to pull the trigger just outside Putri’s bedroom.
"I also would like to extend my condolences for the passing of Brigadier Yosua. May God give strength to the family … taking no regard for what Yosua has done to my wife and my family,” added Ferdy, who has been suspended from his post to allow a thorough investigation.
He said his wife is still in the process of recovering from the trauma of the incident and urged the public to refrain from making wild speculations about the case.
According to his claim, he has been interrogated for the fourth time since the investigation began.
Attorneys for Yosua’s family have alleged foul play and demanded that his body be exhumed for a second autopsy last week.
The National Commission for Human Rights also stepped in and observed the second autopsy at a hospital in Jambi. The commission said they have been shown video footage by investigators showing the last hours when Yosua was seen alive.
Different Version
Police came out with a different version of the story as they announced Eliezer’s status as a murder suspect a day earlier.
The murder charge means that police now believe that Eliezer fatally shot Yosua with implied intent to do so -- not in a self-defense action.
“The decision to name him a murder suspect is based on the complaint from the family [of the victim]. The investigation is developing,” Brig. Gen. Andi Rian, the director of the National Police’s general crime division, told a news conference at his office.
