JAKARTA: The Indonesian maid who was arrested for allegedly murdering her elderly Singaporean employers in their Bedok Reservoir flat will not be sent to Singapore, said Indonesian police on Thursday (Jun 29).
Khasanah, 40, was arrested on Tuesday at a hotel in the Indonesian province of Jambi, nearly a week after the double murder. She reportedly admitted to having committed the crime.
"We are investigating the case but based on the principle of personaliteit, she won't be sent back. We will coordinate with the Singapore Police Force to work on this case," Indonesian National Police spokesman Martinus Sitompul told Channel NewsAsia.
Personaliteit is a legal principle which states that any Indonesian arrested in the country for a crime committed overseas must be processed in Indonesia, instead of being sent to the jurisdiction where the crime took place.
Khasanah is being held at the West Tanjung Jabung police station. Authorities will need to determine that there is sufficient evidence against her before she can be charged in court.
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Indonesia and Singapore signed an extradition treaty as well as a defence cooperation agreement as a package in April 2007, but both agreements have not been ratified by the Indonesian House of Representatives.
Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has previously said that it is ready to proceed with the agreements once Jakarta is ready to do so.
According to Indonesia police news portal Tribrata News, Khasanah was arrested after a tip-off from members of the public who overheard her saying on the phone: "What's their condition? I don't know. If they died, I just want to go to boarding school and repent."
Police tracked her down at a hotel in Tanjung Jabung Barat and seized items including a laptop, watches, mobile phones, jewellery and banknotes in various currencies.
The maid was said to have fled Singapore shortly after the double murder last Wednesday.
The murdered couple, both in their late 70s, was found dead in their second-floor flat at Block 717 Bedok Reservoir Road. Police were seen searching the contents of a rubbish chute at the foot of the block and taking three knives away in a plastic bag.
Read more at http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...rrested-in-indonesia-will-not-be-sent-8987968
