Five children below the age of 5 were found neglected at their home in Pendem village in Kota Batu, East Java, on Monday.
A neighbor had heard them crying and, finding the door unlocked, entered their home to find them hungry and dirty, so she took them out of the house.
Village head Iwan Rubianto happened to pass by and took two of the children to his own home, while the other three were taken care of by other neighbors.
Once home, Rubianto’s wife, Rina Susanti, tended to the kids.
“I changed their diapers, which were so dirty that they stuck to their skin,” said Susanti, as reported by wartakota.co.
The children’s father, Budi, who returned home soon after the discovery, explained to the worried neighbors that he had left the children to escort his wife, Putri, to a hospital in Situbondo regency, more than a six-hour drive away.
Village head Iwan Rubianto said Budi does return home to his children every day and emphasized that reports about them being unfed for four days were false.
Some locals remain suspicious of the couple, as they are, reportedly, closed off from the community.
“They don’t greet anyone, and they always enter and leave alone, as if they’re avoiding social interaction,” explained Rubianto on Wednesday.
He added that the local neighborhood head always had difficulties getting the couple’s citizenship identification card and marriage license.
Locals were so suspicious they had even reportedly planned at one time to raid the couple’s home for fear of terrorist activity. (nor)
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