The National Police yesterday released an animated crime scene reenactment of the murder of Brigadier Nofriansyah Yosua Hutabarat, offering a look into what they say actually transpired in the case that has gripped the nation for weeks.
The video depicts how Ferdy Sambo, a police general who was recently dishonorably discharged from the force, masterminded the murder of his bodyguard Yosua in his Duren Tiga, South Jakarta official residence on July 8.
According to the reenactment, Sambo’s wife Putri Chandrawati (denoted as PC in the video), arrived at the residence at around 5pm with Yosua (Y) and Kuat Ma’ruf (KM), who has been identified as a civilian who worked as Putri’s personal assistant and chauffeur. The party also includes Richard Eliezer (RE), a cop and aide to Sambo who would later be ordered to gun down Yosua.
Kuat then took Putri to her room. A few minutes later, Sambo (FS) arrived with another bodyguard, AR. At one point, Sambo accidentally dropped his gun, and forbade AR from picking it up before retrieving it himself.
Sambo, now inside the house and wearing black gloves, called Yosua, Eliezer, Kuat and another cop named Ricky Rizal (RR) to the dining room on the ground floor. There, Sambo screamed at Yosua, “How dare you be so disrespectful towards me!”
Sambo then turned to Eliezer and screamed, “You shoot him! Shoot him quickly!”
Eliezer fired three to four rounds at Yosua, killing the 28-year-old. With Yosua lying face down in a pool of blood, Sambo grabbed the gun, fired one shot at the victim, before firing several rounds towards the wall to stage the crime scene as if a shootout had taken place.
Indeed, in its first press conference about the case, police said that Yosua was gunned down by his colleague, Eliezer, in a shootout at Sambo’s home. The official line from the police then was that Yosua had molested Putri and threatened to kill her, before firing at Eliezer first after he was caught.
After intense public pressure amid glaring discrepancies in the case, an investigation by a special task force said that Sambo himself ordered the murder.
Sambo has admitted wrongdoing but insisted, somewhat vaguely, that Yosua had conducted himself inappropriately with Putri. Police have yet to disclose the motive for the murder.
Sambo, Putri, Eliezer, Kuat and Ricky returned to the house yesterday along with key witnesses for a physical reenactment of the murder.
Sambo was charged with premeditated murder, which carries the death penalty under Indonesia’s Criminal Code (KUHP). Eliezer has been charged with murder, while Putri, Kuat and Ricky have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder due to their alleged roles in helping cover up the incident.
