JAKARTA: A man in Indonesia’s Central Java has been charged after he was found to have allegedly poisoned satay to be consumed by his mother-in-law, causing her death in May.
The accused, identified as 40-year-old Purwadi Wahyudi, admitted to purchasing a packet of chicken satay and mixing it with rat poison, the police chief of Boyolali regency, Indra Maulana Saputra, said at a press conference on June 8, reported Indonesian media outlet Kumparan.
Purwadi then allegedly arranged for the poisoned food to be delivered to the victim, 57-year-old Aminah, on May 18 via courier service Gosend.
According to Detik, Purwadi had pretended to be his sister-in-law Luriyanti Putri on the Gosend account by using her name and photo as the account details.
Luriyanti is Aminah’s second child. Purwadi is married to Luriyanti’s older sister.
This raised the suspicion of the courier driver when they met – the driver had expected the sender to be a woman.
When questioned by the driver, Purwadi said he was the victim’s son.
Purwadi also allegedly instructed the driver to tell Aminah that the satay was delivered by “Mbake”, a term of endearment in Javanese for an older sister or woman.
The head of the Boyolali police’s criminal investigation unit, Indrawan Wira Saputra, said that upon receiving the satay, Aminah had contacted Luriyanti to ask if she had sent the food.
Luriyanti denied sending Aminah any satay, and told her not to eat the food.
Luriyanti, who dropped by Aminah’s house the next day to drop off her child, found Aminah dead and covered in vomit.
Detik reported that after Aminah was buried, her family filed a police report as they had suspicions that her death was not natural.
On May 30, Aminah’s body was exhumed and an autopsy was conducted.
Samples – including the vomit residue on Aminah’s clothes, the skewers used for the chicken satay, and the carcass of a dead chicken suspected to have eaten the satay – were also tested.
Indra, the police chief, was quoted by Kumparan as saying: “Forensic results and an autopsy conducted by the Central Java Regional Police’s forensic laboratory found rat poison in the victim’s body. This was the cause of the victim’s death.”
Indrawan, from the criminal investigation unit, said Purwadi, who is unemployed, had planned to kill the victim as he felt hurt that she had often isolated and ignored him.
Indrawan added that the killing was carefully planned, reported Indonesian media outlet Kompas.
If convicted, Purwadi faces the death penalty, life imprisonment, or a jail term of up to 20 years. - The Straits Times/ANN
