The expert witness will help consolidate the investigation."Denpasar (ANTARA News) - The Bali Police have summoned a criminologist from the University of Indonesia (UI) Prof. Dr Ronny Rahman Nitibaskara, as an expert witness, to assist in the investigation of the alleged murder of Angeline.
"The expert witness will help consolidate the investigation," Chief of Bali Police Inspector General Ronny Sompie stated here on Thursday.
An expert witness is a witness, who by virtue of education, training, skill, or experience, is believed to have the expertise and specialized knowledge in a particular subject beyond that of the average person, sufficient that others may officially and legally rely on the witness specialized opinion about an evidence or fact issue within the scope of his expertise, referred to as the expert opinion as an assistance to the fact-finder.
"If we conduct this investigation scientifically and without a testimony from the expert, the argument may be denied in the court," he explained.
Nitibaskara, who is also a professor of Anthropology, will analyze the testimony of the suspects.
Based on UIs official website, Nitibaskara was born on July 3, 1943, and graduated in Criminology from the Faculty of Social and Political Science of UI in 1970.
He received his doctorate in Anthropology from the same faculty in 1993.
Besides involving an expert witness, the police also used a lie detector to interrogate the suspects: Agus, who is suspected to have committed the murder, and Margriet Christina Megawe, Angelines foster mother charged with child negligence.
A polygraph, or lie detector, works by measuring and recording several physiological indices, such as blood pressure, pulse rate, respiration, and skin conductivity, while the subject is asked to answer a series of questions.
Deceptive answers will trigger physiological responses that can be differentiated from the responses associated with non-deceptive answers.
Angeline was found buried in the backyard of her house on Wednesday, June 10, after she was reported missing on May 16.
The case has drawn significant concern from numerous quarters across the country, and the police have been urged to thoroughly investigate the case.
Besides arresting Agus and Megawe, the police have also arrested Ivone, one of Megawes children.
Megawe and Ivone were arrested at a villa in Canggu in the district of Badung early on Sunday morning and were immediately sent to a detention cell at 4:35 a.m. local time.
According to Sompie, the police named Megawe as a suspect based on the results of the developments in Angelines case following the confession by Agus, the suspect behind the childs murder during his questioning as a witness in the case of child negligence.
Although Megawe was named as a suspect in a different case, Sompie said there was a possibility that investigations could later trace back links to Angelines homicide case.
(Reporting by Dewa Wiguna/Uu.A059/INE/KR-BSR/F001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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