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Police arrest maid's husband over Pondok Pinang murders
South Jakarta Police on Friday night arrested Ahmad Falah, 40, for the murder of high school student Winston Reynaldi and his sister-in-law Lidwina Ivy
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South Jakarta Police on Friday night arrested Ahmad Falah, 40, for the murder of high school student Winston Reynaldi and his sister-in-law Lidwina Ivy.
Winston, 17, and Lidwina, 32, were murdered on Thursday in an upscale two-story house owned by Winston's father Mursheto, in the elite Pondok Pinang residential complex in South Jakarta.
South Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Chairul Anwar said Falah was the husband of Kusmiatun, one of three domestic workers at the house.
"Falah was arrested in his friend's rented house in Ciputat, Tangerang. We also arrested his wife because she provided him with access to Mursheto's house," Chairul told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
He said Falah had planned to steal items from the house and sell them.
"His wife opened the door for him and let him in. He went up to the second floor and into the bedroom. While looking for any items of value, he was caught by Winston," Chairul said.
"He stabbed Winston in the chest with a small knife and dragged him into the bathroom. He tried to clean up the bloodstains on the floor, but Lidwina, who was beside the bedroom, came into the room," he said.
Falah smashed Lidwina's head into the wall, bound her hands with rope and gagged her mouth, Chairul said.
He also held her head under water in the bathtub in the bathroom to make sure she was really dead, he said.
Winston was a student at Pangudi Luhur high school, while Lidwina married Winston's brother about two months ago.
A domestic worker found their bodies on Thursday afternoon. She screamed and ran outside to tell the other workers and food vendors in the vicinity. They informed the neighborhood chief and he reported the incident to the police.
The bodies were taken to Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital in Central Jakarta for autopsy. Police later questioned eight witnesses -- three domestic workers, a babysitter, a driver and three food vendors -- about the murders.
Falah was charged with murder.
"If found guilty, he can be sentenced to a maximum 15 years in prison. His wife will get a lighter punishment because she did not actually commit the murders," Chairul said.
