Police confirmed on Monday that the latest statement from Agustay âAgusâ Hamda May, suspected murderer and abuser of eight-year-old Engeline Margriet Megawe, was true, suggesting that there was another perpetrator in Engelineâs homicide
olice confirmed on Monday that the latest statement from Agustay 'Agus' Hamda May, suspected murderer and abuser of eight-year-old Engeline Margriet Megawe, was true, suggesting that there was another perpetrator in Engeline's homicide.
Bali Police chief Insp. Gen. Ronny Franky Sompie said that the suspect's statement that the child's adoptive mother Margriet Christina Megawe was the one who killed her had been analyzed using a lie detector, and the results showed that the statement was reliable.
'Based on the results from analysis using a lie detector, the information provided [by the suspect] during the latest investigation as filed in our documents [BAP] is true,' Ronny said.
He said that investigators would also conduct further analysis based on the results of a forensic laboratory examination of Engeline's body and would synchronize it with the Agus' statements.
'Conducting pre-reenactment would be necessary to match all statements by the suspect and witnesses,' he added.
So far, the police have yet to confront Agus and Margriet. The 60-year-old woman has only been named a suspect in neglecting her adoptive child.
During his questioning last week, Agus, the former domestic helper in the house, retracted his previous statement that he murdered and abused the girl and claimed that it was Margriet who killed her. He also said that Margriet promised to pay him Rp 200 million (US$15,000) to bury Engeline's body.
Margriet was also questioned about the murder allegation on Saturday, but insisted that she had nothing to do with the murder.
Her legal team stated that during the day the girl was missing, Margriet searched the house, including in Agus' room, where he previously said he had raped and killed the girl, but did not find her. She later filed a report to the police.
During these last several days, officers have been reexamining the house on Jl. Sedap Malam where the girl was found on June 10 buried in the backyard, almost a month after she was reported missing. The reexamination was conducted to follow up and check on the veracity of Agus' statement.
The team from Indonesia Automatic Fingerprints Identification System (Inafis) had obtained evidence, including some household appliances and a long wooden stick with bloodspots and fingerprints on it, all of which would be analyzed in the forensic laboratory.
Also on Monday, three witnesses, Franky Alexander Maringka, Yuliet Christien and Lorraine Soriton, who had all been living in Margriet's house, conducted a pre-reenactment at the crime scene to illustrate the ways Margriet allegedly tortured the victim.
The three witnesses, who are all from Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, lived at Margriet's house from December 2014 to March 2015.
They claimed that they often saw Margriet beating the girl.
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