The police have arrested a man suspected of committing a series of abductions and rapes of school children in Denpasar since February.
Mochammad Davis Suharto, a sole suspect in the serial rape cases that have caused anxiety among parents and activists, was nabbed in Kuta at around 4 a.m. on Sunday, Bali Police chief Insp. Gen. Sutisna said Sunday.
The police arrested the 30-year-old man when he was riding his motorbike after recognizing that the license plate was similar to the one reportedly used by the rapist.
Several days before, police detectives spotted the same motorcycle around Dalung, Kuta, but failed to catch the man, whose sketch has been distributed and displayed in public places since last month.
After searching throughout the Kuta area since Saturday, the police saw the motorbike with the suspected license plate passing through Legian area heading to Kuta.
“Our officers stopped him and checked his vehicle documents, and later informed the Kuta Police since they noticed that the man had similar characteristics to the sketch of the wanted man, including a mark on his right cheek,” Sutisna told a press conference at the Denpasar Police headquarters.
When questioned at the Kuta Police headquarters, the suspect, who works as a masseur in Kuta, admitted that he had committed five abductions and had raped four elementary school students and one junior high school student.
Four of the five victims were abducted in the Monang Maning area and brought to Serangan, while the other victim was abducted on Jalan Narakusuma.
All the cases had a similar modus operandi, where the suspect took the victims on their way to or from their school, telling the victims that he was taking them to their parents.
According to the police, the suspect has been living in Bali for six months after moving from Batam, Riau Islands, where he had resided since 2003.
The suspect held several ID cards and driving licenses with different names.
“The suspect had also committed six cases of abduction and rape while he was still in Batam, but had never been arrested,” Sutisna said, adding that some of the victims in Batam were also children.
The police had also searched the suspect’s house and confiscated some evidence, including a laptop computer, as well as several erotic magazines and posters.
The five victims and their families came to the Denpasar Police headquarters on Sunday morning and confirmed that the suspect was the man who abducted them.
One of the victims fainted when she saw the suspect.
The situation became chaotic in the police station as one of the people in the crowd, allegedly a relative of one of the victims, started to attack the suspect.
Jumat Ali, grandfather of one of the victims, said the family was relieved with the arrest, and expected the police to investigate the case thoroughly.
“I hope the suspect would be given death sentence,” Ali said.
Luh Putu Anggraeni from the Bali chapter of Child Protection Commission said the commission appreciated the success of the police in apprehending the suspect in such an efficient manner.
