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itnesses in a suspected child abuse case at an orphanage in Tangerang, Banten, appeared at the Jakarta Police office in South Jakarta for questioning on Wednesday.

Ten children, aged between 1 and 14 years old, were accompanied by legal representatives from the Mawar Saron Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Mawar Saron) during their questioning regarding allegations of physical abuse at the hands of Chemy '€œSamuel'€ Watulingas, owner of the Panti Asuhan Samuel, or Samuel'€™s Home orphanage, in Gading Serpong.

LBH Mawar Saron legal representative Eric Manurung said that up to 30 children were physically abused by Samuel at the orphanage over the 12-year period since 2002.

According to Eric, the victims'€™ claims of physical abuse ranged from unwarranted beatings to not being fed properly by caretakers. A six-month old baby girl was also reportedly sexually abused.

Eric said a physical examination of the baby girl showed indications of abuse. The baby had suffered bite marks to her cheeks, nose and genitalia. Two of the children claimed to have witnessed Samuel abusing the baby girl, though Samuel was not aware he had witnesses at the time.

'€œForensic examinations have already been conducted on six or seven children, and we expect to receive the results this Friday. Nine [of the children, acting as] witnesses will also undergo physical and psychological assessments on Thursday,'€ said Eric.

Orphanage owner Samuel will be questioned by the Jakarta Police on Monday next week.

Samuel'€™s Home was previously in trouble with the law in 2012, after the orphanage was discovered to be illegally operating without a permit.

'€œThe Tangerang Social Affairs Agency managed to close down the illegal orphanage in 2012 after reports of several children being housed there,'€ said Tangerang Social Affairs Agency head Uyung Mulyadi.

Meanwhile, the orphanage '€” which had recently moved to a new location not far from its previous site '€” has not been cordoned off as a crime scene by the police, and is therefore vulnerable to
evidence tampering, according to LBH Mawar Saron lawyer Jecky Tengens. (dyl)