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Suspected kidnapper may face 15 years in prison
A woman who snatched a baby from Hasan Sadikin Hospital in Bandung, West Java, in late March, has been named a suspect
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woman who snatched a baby from Hasan Sadikin Hospital in Bandung, West Java, in late March, has been named a suspect. If declared guilty, she could face 15 years in prison.
Bandung City Police chief Sr. Comr. Mashudi said the suspect, identified only as DA, had been charged under Article 328 of the Criminal Code and Article 83 of the 2002 Child Protection Law. 'The articles carry a maximum 15 years in prison,' Mashudi said on Tuesday.
The police named DA a suspect after a psychological test found her mentally fit when she committed the crime and, therefore, capable of taking responsibility for her actions.
DA, 32, allegedly kidnapped Valensia, who at the time was only four days old, while the baby's parents, Lasmaria Boru Manulang, 25, and Toni Manurung, 26, were in a separate room on March 25.
They left Valensia with DA, who posed as a doctor. When they returned to the room a couple of minutes later, both the baby and DA were gone.
The police apprehended DA a few days later at a rented two-story house on Gang H. Ento, which is located 300 meters from the hospital. The baby was found in the same house.
When the police arrived, DA said she had go to a kiosk, but she never returned. She apparently attempted to commit suicide by jumping off the Pasupati (Pasteur-Surapati) overpass.
DA was rushed to Hasan Sadikin Hospital and is still undergoing treatment for fractures sustained in her 12-m fall. The police found evidence in the house, such as a laboratory coat and an orange bag.
Mashudi said DA had confessed to snatching the baby as she longed for another child. DA, he continued, had been married twice. She has a child from her first marriage but not from her marriage with her current husband, Mahardika, whom she wed in July 2013.
'She said her reason [for committing the crime] was to have [another] child. We are conducting a thorough investigation before handing over the dossier to the prosecutor's office,' Mashudi said, adding that DA would still have to undergo a series of operations.
Previously, West Java Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Martinus Sitompul said that DA's husband and mother-in-law said they had become suspicious when DA claimed to have delivered a baby as there were no signs of a pregnancy.
