The Jakarta Globe, Sep 23, 2014
Jakarta. The lawyer of a student who claims she was raped by Pakubuwono XIII is accusing police of looking for excuses to avoid implicating the king of Solo.
“Police act as if they don’t trust the victim,” Iwan Pangka, a lawyer for the 15-year-old alleged rape victim, was quoted as saying by news portal Detik.com on Tuesday. “Police are trying to find excuses that would not lead them in the direction of the king of Solo, such as the possibility that the [person] in the car [who allegedly drugged the girl] was not the king … but his driver.”
The victim, a vocational high school student, filed a police report in July, four months after the incident. The family decided to report the case to police because the girl is pregnant and discussions with the royal family to find a solution did not lead to an agreement.
Iwan said that the victim had been shown a picture of Pakubuwono XIII and confirmed that he was the one who raped her in a hotel in March.
The victim claims to have been introduced to the king after she talked to her friend, identified as Y.S.F., about not being able to pay her school fees. Y.S.F. then allegedly introduced her to a certain W.T., who offered “easy” but well-paid “work.”
Ultimately, the victim ended up in a car and was given a candy on the way to a hotel in Sukoharjo district. After eating the candy, the victim said she passed out. She then woke up naked in the hotel and says she was given Rp 2 million ($170) by the king.
“In the hotel, our client was raped by the perpetrator,” Asri Purwanti, another of the girl’s lawyers, was quoted as saying in the Detik report, adding that her client was ready to have her child undergo a DNA test after birth, to establish paternity.
Pakubuwono XIII’s spokesman, Bambang Ary Wibowo, told Detik.com that he could not comment on the case, because he had not discussed it with the royal.
The king’s brother, Suryowicaksono, said that he was shocked to hear the report, but that he would wait for the results of the police investigation.
“As a relative I am concerned. The palace has suffered many problems. [Pakubowono XIII] should realize that as a king, he should … set an example for others,” Suryowicaksono said, as quoted by Detik.com.
Police have yet to comment on the case.
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di 23 sep 2014 - 23:07