Papua Police Chief Inspector General Paulus Waterpauw – Jubi/Islami Adisubrata
Jayapura, Jubi – Papua Police Chief Inspector General Paulus Waterpauw promised transparency in handling the investigation into the shooting of Otinus Sondegau, 15, allegedly perpetrated by a Mobile Brigade officer last month.
He said the police would not cover up the investigation the events that led to Otinus’ untimely death.
“We will investigate the incident. We will be transparent in handling this case. After the incident, we promptly sent a team to Sugapa. Deputy Chief Inspector General Rudolf Alberth Rodja was leading the team,” said the chief on last week.
Police investigators have questioned 23 witnesses. including 8 civilians who live near the scene, 10 Mobile Brigade officers and 14 local police officers.
One of the witnesses from the civilian group is a rental car driver who asked for help to Sugapa Police Station.
“Basically they confessed, knew and saw the incident at the moment. As well as the mobile brigade officers who admitted to fire the warning shot at the location around the victim,” he said.
In addition, before the victim was buried, the police investigation team asked permission to the family to do a post mortem over the body. In this investigation, the Papua Police team doesn’t work alone but supported by a team from the Indonesian Police Headquarters.
The police are currently investigating the shooting perpetrator. Papua Police team has repositioned to find out the position of the witnesses in the time of the incident, whether they were civilians, mobile brigade or Sugapa police officers.
“The scene investigation has been done as well. But the cause of the victim’s death is still under further examination. Based on the post mortem report, the shot was allegedly not straight hitting the victim but came from the back and penetrated down to the chest. The relevance of the finding is the shot wasn’t come from the close range. It might come from 100 meters or more,” he said. (*/rom)
