Police issue sketch of suspect in Aussie rape

KE Frans, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar | Headlines | Tue, April 30 2013, 10:54 AM

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North Kuta Police have completed a sketch of the male suspect who allegedly raped an Australian tourist before making away with her valuables at dawn on Saturday.

“The police artist constructed the sketch based on information provided by the victim,” North Kuta Police chief Adj. Comr. Reinhard Habonaran Nainggolan disclosed Monday.

“The victim remembered the face of the suspect quite clearly because he was not wearing a mask when the assault took place,” he said, adding that the sketch had been distributed to plainclothed detectives tasked with tracking down and apprehending the suspect.

The victim also provided the police with details of the suspect’s other features.

He is believed to be a thin dark-skinned local wearing a black T-shirt with black pants above the ankles, with straight black hair, 176 centimeters in height and around 35 years of age.

The victim, identified as 28-year-old LKT, was robbed and raped at Villa Damais on Jl. Bumbak, Banjar Anyar Kelod, Kerobokan district, North Kuta, Badung regency, where she and seven members of her family were
vacationing.

LKT and her family cut their holiday short and returned to Perth on Sunday, after she reported the case to the police and underwent a medical examination at Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar. She had been in Bali for the past week.

A medical examination confirmed LKT’s information on the sexual assault.

During the break-in early Saturday morning, at around 4 a.m., the suspect, according to LKT’s police report stole three iPads, two iPhones and Rp 1.5 million (US$154) in cash, valued overall at approximately Rp 47,500,000, before raping her.

The suspect carried a knife and a flashlight as he stood in front of LKT, while she was sleeping in her room.

LKT slept alone while other members of her family slept in the other three rooms in the villa.

Five witnesses, including a security officer, are being questioned by the police. The on-duty security officer, however, testified that he was not aware of the break-in.

The police have also secured the crime scene and a number of pieces of evidence, including worn clothing. Reinhard suspected that the crime was conducted by more than one person.

“We are now checking our list of known active criminals and recidivists. We believe that the perpetrators are Indonesian men.”

The rolling doors of the room where LKT was staying were not damaged, thus it is thought that the suspect easily entered through unlocked doors, after jumping from the wall surrounding the compound of the four-bedroom villa.

Reinhard said that the villa was guarded by a security officer 24 hours daily.

The police have not been informed on whether the villa was equipped with Closed Circuit Television (CCTV).

In the past, several female tourists had fallen victim to sexual assault during their stay on the resort island.

In mid-2010, police arrested Rudy Stenly Walawangko, a surf instructor for raping an intoxicated Australian woman.

In the previous year, a Swedish teenager reported that she was raped by an ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver in Kuta.

While in 2002, the Japanese government threatened to issue a travel warning following an increasing number of sexual assaults targeting Japanese women.

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