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Police credibility on the line as questions abound in fatal shootout probe
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The logo of the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) adorns the frontispiece of its Jakarta headquarters. (National Police/File)
A
ll eyes are on the National Police as questions abound over their investigation into the fatal shooting of an officer at the official residence of a high-ranking police official.
Brig. Nopryansyah Yosua Hutabarat, also known as officer J, was reportedly killed in an exchange of fire with second agent (Bharada) E at the official residence of the police’s internal affairs chief, Insp. Gen. Ferdy Sambo, in Jakarta on July 8.
According to the police’s account of the incident, Yosua was confronted by officer E after the latter heard screams coming from the bedroom of Putri Candrawathi, Ferdy’s wife, who claimed Yosua had tried to assault her. Yosua allegedly drew his firearm first and fired at E before being killed in the shootout.
Officer E is a member of the police’s Mobile Brigade unit who had been assigned as an aide de camp to Ferdy, while Yosua had been assigned as a chauffeur to Ferdy’s wife. According to the police, the incident unfolded at around 5 p.m. on July 8, when Yosua entered Ferdy’s second-floor bedroom where his wife was resting.
Premeditated murder?
That official account has been seriously challenged by Yosua’s family, who suspect that the slain officer was in fact a victim of premeditated murder.
“We have made a report to the police with the allegation of premeditated murder,” Kamaruddin Simanjuntak, the coordinator for the legal team representing the family, said at the National Police headquarters in Jakarta on Monday.
