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Police nearly run out of time in Jessica’s case
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Jessica Kumala Wongso, the only suspect in the murder of Wayan Mirna Salihin, leaves an interrogation room at the Jakarta Police headquarters earlier this year. The police have only a limited time to finish the dossier as the 120-day investigation period of the case will expire on May 28 ( kompas.com/Alif Ichwan) )
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akarta Police once again sent the case dossier on Jessica Kumala Wongso, who is accused of murdering her friend Wayan Mirna Salihin, back to the Jakarta Prosecutor’s office on Wednesday.
The police have only a limited time to complete the dossier because the 120-day investigation period of Jessica’s case will expire on May 28. If prosecutors do not accept the dossier before the deadline, Jessica will be released and the case closed.
“Yesterday, police investigators received the [returned] case dossier from the prosecutors. At 8 a.m. [Wednesday], we returned it back to the prosecutors having fulfilled all the prosecutors’ requests,” said Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Awi Setiyono in Jakarta on Wednesday as reported by tribunnews.com.
He said the prosecutors had advised the police investigators to include a letter from the Law and Human Rights Ministry’s central authority and international law directorate, explaining that the request for mutual legal assistance (MLA) from Australia had not been met.
The investigators had also attached an excerpt from a response from a senior liaison officer at the Australian Federal Police’s (AFP) Jakarta office in relation to the supplementary MLA and two letters from the International Crime Cooperation Central Authority of the Australian Attorney General’s Office, Awi added.
On Tuesday, head of the Jakarta Prosecutor’s Office Sudung Situmorang said his office had to return Jessica’s case dossier four times to the police because the police had failed to complete the documents.
“The evidence has not [been completed]. Therefore the prosecutors, who examine the documents, have returned the case dossier [to the police],” said Sudung in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Sudung said he had communicated with Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Moechgiyarto about the matter. The police chief had criticized prosecutors for repeatedly returning the dossiers to the police. “Let the judges decide so that there is legal certainty. We shouldn't be bothered with all these problems,” said Moechgiyarto as reported by kompas.com, last week.
Jessica has been named a suspect in the murder of Mirna, who died after drinking cyanide-laced coffee in a restaurant in Central Jakarta on Jan. 6. Jessica shared a table at the restaurant with Mirna and another friend, Hani. ( bbn )
