Family of Dead Child Victimized By Woman Posing as Police

Jakarta Globe, January 15, 2013


The family of an 11-year-old girl who died from injuries and infection sustained when she was raped, was duped out of Rp 35 million ($3,600) of donated money by a woman claiming to be a police officer.

The National Police public relations division reported on its website that the incident occurred on Morning morning when the woman arrived at the family’s house asking for evidence.

“The woman came and claimed to be a policewoman from the [East Jakarta] district police and asking for [the child’s] clothing as evidence,” the child’s mother, Asri, told police as quoted by the website.

Asri described the woman as wearing a green shirt and green headscarf.

According to Asri, the would-be policewoman told her that she needed to go to the police station with her husband and other daughter, and that she also needed to deposit the Rp 35 million — which had been donated by Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo, the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry for Child Protection — in the bank for safekeeping.

Asri told police that she told her daughter-in-law Daryati to get the money as she readied herself to go to the police station.

According to Asri, the woman convinced Daryati to hand over the money to her for safekeeping. She then told Daryati to get Asri and to look for Asri’s husband. When Daryati returned, the woman was gone.

Daryati told police that she immediately went to look for the woman, asking neighbors and ojek motorcycle taxi drivers if they had seen her.

The ojek driver who was hired by the woman returned and told Daryati that she had asked to be dropped off at a nearby street.

Daryati asked the ojek drivers to search for the woman, but was then overcome by shock and grief at having lost the money, and had to be assisted back inside her home.

“The money was for the family, because my father-in-law and mother-in-law are no longer working,” she later told police.

The rape victim died on Jan. 6, eight days after being admitted to Persahabatan Hospital in East Jakarta. Doctors said that her death was caused by infectious diseases, some of which were sexually transmitted.