It was a crime that shocked and horrified Jakarta. CCTV footage caught the moment when a mugger on a motorcycle attempted to steal the bag of a passenger riding on the back of an ojek (motorcycle taxi) as both vehicles sped down a major road. Attempting to resist by holding onto her bag, the victim was pulled off the motorcycle and hit the pavement, dying from a traumatic head injury after her helmet came off.
Warning: Disturbing footage, possibly NSFW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM91hGvSG9k
Police have been searching for the mugger since the tragic incident took place on July 1 on Jalan Ahmad Yani in Cempaka Putih, Central Jakarta. But, in the end, it was the perpetrator who turned himself over to the police, claiming a guilty conscious as well as fear of being killed after the Jakarta police issued a directive for officers to shoot thieves “if there is any resistance” aimed at combating a recent rash of violent thefts.
“I have surrendered myself (to the police) because I was afraid of being shot,” SH said at Central Jakarta Police Headquarters today as quoted by Kompas.
SH said he did not have any intention of killing his 37-year-old victim and went into hiding immediately after seeing her fall from the motorcycle. He said that he only learned of her death three days after the incident from watching a news report about it on TV.
SH said he was haunted by guilt for his actions and unable to sleep, often seeing the image of his victim in the shadows. He was also scared of news reports that the police were hunting him down and that they had been instructed to shoot thieves. Finally he decided to confess his crimes to his uncle, who agreed that SH should surrender himself to the police and accompanied him to the station on Sunday afternoon.
Police are still investigating the case and have not yet announced what charges SH will face.
While the directive for officers to shoot resisting thieves may have lead SH to turn himself in, international NGO Human Rights Watch has denounced the policy, warning that it could lead to more summary executions by police, similar to what has taken place in the Philippines under President Rodrigo Duterte’s harsh drug war.
