The Man Who Killed His Same-Sex Dating Friend Whose Body Was Thrown Into The Cikamari River, Garut, Was Arrested

The police showed evidence of a murder case during a press conference at the Garut Police Headquarters, West Java, Wednesday (13/12/2023). (ANTARA/Feri Purnama)

Garut Resort Police revealed the perpetrator of the murder of a man whose body was found in the Cikabri River, Samarang District, Garut Regency, West Java, last weekend.

"The scene of the case is in Samararang District. This incident emerged when the discovery of a corpse in the Cikabri River and the Garut Police moved quickly to carry out an investigation until the suspect was finally arrested," said Garut Police Chief AKBP Rohman Yonky Dilatha as reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, December 13.

The police chief explained that the murder case was revealed after the police conducted an investigation and examined five witnesses until finally one suspect with the initials MES (24), a resident of Samararang District, Garut.

The suspect, who works as a laborer, deliberately kills the victim, who is a same-sex date with the initials MR (30), a resident of Bogor. The victim has been living in Garut for three years and works as a wedding party filler.

"This case is a premeditated murder crime, killing another person's life accompanied by a criminal act of theft first or threats of violence and / or theft with weighting," said the Police Chief.

Rohman revealed the reason the suspect killed the victim was due to the problem of same-sex forbidden relationships. The suspect, who was disappointed, then committed violence by strangling the victim using a shoe strap.

After carrying out the action, the suspect then threw the victim's body into the river, along with clothes and other evidence with the aim of eliminating traces of his crime.

However, the police managed to uncover the murder case which began with the discovery of the victim's body by a sand miner in the Cikabri River, Garut Regency, on Friday, December 8, 2023.

"The victim by the suspect was thrown into the river. There were also five witnesses from this incident, for the crime scene initially in Samarang and evidence that was secured by a motorbike, cellphone, helmet, and several other items," said the Police Chief accompanied by the Head of Criminal Investigation Unit of the Garut Police, AKP Ari Rinaldo.

As a result of his actions, the MES suspect was charged with Article 340 in conjunction with Article 338 of the Criminal Code with a maximum threat of the death penalty or life imprisonment or 20 years in prison.