The legal representation for a woman arrested in Bali over some very uncomfortable-to-watch viral videos showing a baby getting pinched and doused with liquid dish soap, has responded to statements made by police, apparently denying extortion but not abuse.
Sumba woman Mariana Dangu was arrested in Denpasar this week as a suspect for child abuse after the horrifying videos of her and her baby went viral on Facebook, sparking a police investigation.
Following her arrest, police speculated that the woman’s motive to film the awful videos was extortion, that the videos were a means of getting attention and money from the baby’s father who is reportedly in Austria at the moment.
But Dangu’s attorney, Naldi Elfian Saban has refuted the claims, saying that there is no element of extortion in Dangu’s case.
Saban says it was normal for Dangu to ask the baby’s father, identified as Otmar Daniel Edelsberger, for money to help take care of Baby J, so any request from his client was not blackmail.
The videos were filmed as a “scenario” by his client to encourage Edelsberger to help out his son, says Saban.
“Right at that moment his son was sick and had been taken to the clinic which required a fee, but (Dangu) did not have money then,” Saban said on Tuesday, as quoted by Tribun Bali.
According to Saban, Dangu had called Edelsberger prior to filming the video, asking for money, but the father allegedly responded by laying on expletives and said that the money she requested was only for personal use.
Dangu claims to have been supported by Edelsberger around eight previous times since giving birth to Baby J.
“It’s true that he would send his girlfriend money every month, around Rp 3-4 million,” Saban said.
Regarding allegations that Dangu was suffering from bipolar disorder, Saban says his client is currently undergoing psychological examination, facilitated by police.
Baby J was taken to an orphanage for care by a nonprofit two months ago after social services got wind of abuse at his home. The two videos were apparently released on Facebook just last week as a way of blocking the baby from his mother when Dangu allegedly tried to return to take her son. Garnering over two million combined views in just 48 hours, the videos helped trigger a police investigation and have since apparently been removed from Facebook.
