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Two teachers named suspects in headless toddler case in Samarinda
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Illustration of a crime scene. (Shutterstock.com/Prath)
S
amarinda Ulu Police in East Kalimantan have named two teachers at early childhood education school (PAUD) Jannatul Athfaal in Samarinda suspects in the death of a toddler, whose headless body was found 4 kilometers from the school.
The suspects, identified only as TS and M, have been charged under Article 359 of the Criminal Code for neglect resulting in death, which is punishable by five years’ imprisonment.
The child, identified as Yusuf Achmad Ghazali, 4, was found dead on Nov. 22, 2019. After a two-month investigation, the police concluded that he had died after falling into a drain and being swept away.
"So far we have concluded that Yusuf died because he fell into the drain. There was no criminal intent. We concluded that it was a result of negligence,” said the head of the Samarinda Police Criminal Detective Unit, Second Insp. Muhammad Ridwan as quoted by Kompas.com.
However, Yusuf’s parents have rejected the investigation result, as after seeing his body they became convinced that Yusuf was murdered.
“It cannot be because he was swept away. His body was found in an unnatural condition,” said Yusuf’s mother, Melisari.
Yusuf’s father, Bambang Sulistio, also said he believed that his son’s death was a result of foul play.
“We are not happy with this result. Hopefully more facts can be revealed during the investigation,” Bambang said.
Meanwhile, the suspects said they accepted the police decision to name them suspects.
They claim that they had no idea where Yusuf had got to when he went missing from the classroom. According to M, she was in the toilet when Yusuf went missing. There were seven children inside the classroom. Her fellow teacher, TS, was also inside the classroom at that time.
“I went to the bathroom at that time. I was there for less than five minutes. When I returned to the classroom, Yusuf was already missing,” she said. (dpk)
