Murder Accompanied By Mutilation: Not Just Sadistic Crime, But Also The Dehumanization Process

JAKARTA Murder by mutilating the victim again occurs. A husband in Ciamis Regency, West Java, cut off his wife's body. He even peddled his wife's meat to neighbors.

Cisontrol Village, Rancah District, Ciamis was shocked by the news of the murder accompanied by mutilation. The perpetrator is Tarsum bin Daspin or TBD (51) and the victim is his wife, Yes (42).

This mutilation incident is thought to have taken place quickly. Before the incident, the victim was preparing to attend a recitation at the mosque and had said goodbye to her husband and child. But when walking in the alley near the house, the perpetrator suddenly killed the victim by hitting the victim with a beam. TBD then mutilated the victim using a knife.

The terrible thing after the incident was that the perpetrator had offered pieces of his wife's body to neighbors. The video of the perpetrator carrying an object that was thought to be a body piece and covered in blood was spread on social media. Residents who recorded hysterically saw it.

Methods of Eliminating Evidence

Depression due to economic pressure is suspected to be the trigger, although the Ciamis Police Chief AKBP Akmal still has not been able to conclude the motive because no thorough examination has been carried out. The psychological condition of the perpetrator is still relatively unstable so it has not been investigated.

"We are still investigating the motive. We will also check the mental condition of the perpetrator," said Akmal.

The mutilation case in Ciamis extends a similar series in Indonesia. In late 2023, a man in Malang, East Java, surrendered to the police after mutilating his wife. The trigger is suspected to be family problems.

Previously, in March of the same year, the Yogyakarta Police arrested the perpetrators of the murder who were followed by mutilation. The perpetrator is HP, who mutilates the mother of two children, A, in Kaliurang, Sleman.

According to the police, the perpetrator, who worked in the tent rental service, dismembered the victim's body with a knife and saw it into 65 parts.

Ten years earlier, a farmer in Belu Regency, East Nusa Tenggara, Silvester Bria (48) had the heart to kill and mutilate his wife Rosalina Bete (45) and her son, Emelia Putri alias Esrah (2.5). At the time of the incident, his wife who worked as a private elementary school teacher was three months pregnant.

The perpetrator felt embarrassed because he was ridiculed by the victim's extended family at a funeral.

According to University of Budi Luhur lecturer, M. Rizky Nur Kamrullah, mutilation is one of the methods of murder to eliminate evidence of a crime.

Other techniques such as casting bodies were thrown into rivers or seas. These are all methods to eliminate traces," Rizky said while talking to VOI.

"Why is mutilation often carried out, because it is considered the easiest way to eliminate the identity characteristics of the victim, even though there are other factors that cause this mutilation," he added.

Rizky continued, to find out whether the motive for the perpetrators of the mutilation could not be generalized or an investigation by case had to be carried out. From there, it can be determined whether the perpetrators are professional or not.

Although the most frequent mutilation in Indonesia is due to emotional problems, abroad there are many mutilations carried out by professionals.

This is usually done by a group of drug cartels in Latin America or human trafficking. The identity of the perpetrators and victims is unknown, this is generally done by organized groups," Rizky said.

"In addition to eliminating evidence, mutilation is also carried out by organized groups as a form of terror," he said again.

In September 2023, pieces of the corpse that were mutilated and dumped were found in seven locations in the Mexican city of Monterrey. Nuevo state security official Leon, Gerardo Palacios, said the killings were likely linked to disputes in drug cartels in Tamaulipas state.

Mexican drug cartels often leave bodies in dismembered condition on the streets. Usually the bodies are occupied by messages with banners criticizing their rival officials or gangs.

As for the mutilation cases carried out by ordinary people, generally the cases are easily solved by law enforcers. In this case, according to Rizky, the motive usually tends to be personal or serious social life problems.

Copycat from Information Technology

Murder accompanied by mutilation is a form of sadistic and concerning crime, which may not be done by everyone. For some, it may not be thought of why someone can do such a sadistic and heinous act.

Rizky said that usually there is a psychological extreme push from the perpetrators to do this sadistic thing.

Rizky added that the rampant practice of mutilation cannot be separated from the development of the digital world now which provides a lot of information about the crime model.

"In a criminal world called copycat, society can be inspired by certain crimes, such as robbery, bombs, including mutilation as well," he explained.

So news in the media or films can be an inspiration for someone, although of course it needs to be researched and reviewed again because not all of them are inspired by the development of the digital world.

Meanwhile, a criminologist from the University of Indonesia Adrianus Meillala explained, that the perpetrators of the mutilation experienced a process of dehumanization or no longer considered the victim as a human, but a corpse object.

"From the various cases, there is a process of dehumanization, so the perpetrators no longer see him as a person, but just stuff, that's what makes the perpetrators cold and have the heart to mutilate the victims he has killed," he said.