Batu police probing violent death of Dutchman, presumed wife

Antara News, Friday, October 15, 2010 20:40 WIB

Batu, East Java (ANTARA News) - Police are still investigating the case of Dutch consulate employee Dirk Pieter van Antwerpen and his presumed Indonesian wife whose injured dead bodies were found in their home on Thursday (Oct 14).

Batu Police Chief Adjunct Senior Commissioner Gatot Sugeng Susanto said here Friday the police had not yet succeeded in determining the motive behind what appeared to be the murder of the Dutchman and his assumed wife.

"We need more time to investigate this case and establish the motive of these murders," he said.

Police were still examining things at the crime scene and trying to find witnesses among their close friends to obtain a clearer picture of what happened and why they were killed.

Meanwhile, a man named Samuel, a neighbor who had found the dead bodies, said, at first he had picked up the smell of something rotten that came from the Dutchman`s house at 16.30 pm. He thought it was the smell of a dead chicken, but when he took a closer look at the house, he saw a body lying on the ground inside the house.

"I thought it was the smell of a dead chicken but it turned out it came from a dead human," Samuel said.

Samuel then reported what he found to the local neighborhood chief and later to the police. Afterward, people found the bodies of Dirk Pieter and Suyatmi, an Indonesian woman believed to be his wife, with their hands tied.

Dirk`s body lay in a hallway linking the house`s front terrace and the backyard, and Suyatmi`s body in the backyard. Both bodies showed signs they had been assaulted with a sharp weapon, Samuel said.