Perpetrators Of Destruction Of Tombstones In Pontianak Suspected Of Mental Disorder, Family Says They Have Learned Science In Sumatra

Pontianak Police Chief, Kombes Andi Herindra (Photo: ANTARA)

PONTIANAK - Pontianak Police Chief Kombes Andi Herindra said his party suspected that the perpetrators of the destruction of dozens of headstones and graves at the Muslim cemetery on Jalan Abdul Rahman Saleh, Bangka Belitung Village, Southeast Pontianak District, had a mental disorder.

The perpetrator with the initials RM (22), a resident of Tanjung Harapan has been arrested and is now undergoing examination at the Pontianak Police.

"The perpetrator we have detained is in an unstable condition, his status is still under investigation, but the information we have obtained from this perpetrator is still changing, so it is strongly suspected that he has a mental disorder," said Andi Herindra in Pontianak, Antara, Wednesday, March 30.

He said, from police data, this RM perpetrator had a history in 2019 he had committed a criminal act of persecution in his own parents' family environment.

"RM in 2019 wanted to persecute his aunt and uncle who lived in East Pontianak by hacking a sharp weapon. At that time the case was discontinued because of the conclusion from a psychiatrist that RM had a mental disorder," he said.

RM had undergone rehabilitation assisted by the Pontianak City Social Service. However, after leaving rehabilitation, in 2020 he committed another crime by taking a generator engine and charity box at one of the mosques in Pontianak.

For that case, continued the Pontianak Police Chief, RM was again arrested and rehabilitated mentally for six months at the Mental Hospital in Singkawang. Then there was no news for a long time, RM reappeared in Pontianak and committed a crime by destroying tombstones and tombs in Muslim cemeteries in Southeast Pontianak.

Previously, a number of Pontianak residents reported to the police that the graves of their relatives had been damaged by unknown persons.

"According to reports from the public to us at this time, there are eleven graves with details of 10 male graves and one female grave. The female graves had been dug up to a depth of 30 centimeters, but no items were taken by the perpetrators," he said.

According to the family's statement, this RM had studied science in the Sumatra area and when he returned from there he often did things that were not normal.

"Our results show that five burial sites were damaged, but we only received reports from residents whose crime scenes were at the Muslim Cemetery on Jalan Abdul Rahman Saleh. We also appeal to people whose family graves were damaged to report to us," he said.