A dog owner in Cipayung, East Jakarta may be charged with negligence after her dog attacked and killed her domestic worker on Sunday, police said.
According to the Cipayung Police, on Sunday evening, the victim, a domestic worker identified as Yayan (35), was told by her employer, who is identified by her initials TD (72), to feed the family’s Belgian Shepherd, which was kept in its cage.
“The dog owner instructed the domestic worker to open the cage door, even though [Yayan] said she was scared of the dog,” Cipayung Police Chief Abdul told reporters yesterday, as quoted by Kompas.
“[The dog attacked Yayan] and there were many wounds to her neck, breast, chest. Most of the wounds were on her chest, in the form of scratches.”
Yayan, who had only worked at the household for two weeks before the incident, passed away on her way to the hospital.
Abdul said that no one has been charged for for Yayan’s death yet, but TD or anyone in her family responsible for the dog may be charged with negligence leading to manslaughter under the Criminal Code (KUHP), which is a crime punishable by up to five years in prison.
Another police officer from Cipayung told Tempo that the family has paid Yayan’s husband and child IDR60 million (US$4,217) as “condolence money”, which they accepted. Yayan’s family has also refused to have an autopsy performed on her body, saying that they are at peace with her tragic death.
The condolence money may not completely absolve TD and her family of any potential criminal charges, although it may help in that regard. One notable example of such a case involved the son of musician/politician Ahmad Dhani, who escaped punishment for killing seven people in a car crash despite being found guilty. Dhani paying the victims’ families compensation for their loss was one factor that counted towards the court’s no-punishment ruling for his son.
Authorities have not yet disclosed what will happen to TD’s dog.
