A viral video on social media shows the hostage-taking of a young child in the Pejaten area of Jakarta, Indonesia. The video shows a four-year-old boy being held hostage by an elderly man in the Pasar Minggu area of South Jakarta on Monday, October 28, 2024, in the morning.
Video footage depicting the seconds of the hostage-taking incident is circulating on social media. In the video, the man in the blue jacket is seen draping a knife around the neck of the boy, who can only cry at the door of the post.
This incident occurred at the police post (pospol) at The Park Pejaten intersection.
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Shortly thereafter, the police arrived at the location and negotiated to save the victim. The tense negotiations ended when the officers persuaded the perpetrator and finally surrendered. Residents said that a police officer suffered an injury to his hand as a result of trying to grab the knife from the perpetrator.
Based on police information reported by Antara, the hostage-taking was carried out by a middle-aged man with the initials J (54), who took hostage while pointing a knife at a child S (7) at the Police Post, Pejaten, Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta.
Police revealed that the man was desperate to take hostages because he was afraid and wanted to use the child as a “shield”.
South Jakarta Metro Police Public Relations Section Head AKP Nurma Dewi said that IJ tested positive for methamphetamine when secured by the police. Thus, IJ hallucinated that someone was chasing him. However, when he saw a small child, IJ claimed that he was no longer being chased.
“So, he was afraid his hallucinations were being chased by people. So, he hallucinates that he is being chased by someone. But if he sees a child, he will not be chased by people,” said Nurma.
The perpetrator had invited the child being held hostage to take a walk first
The South Jakarta Metro Police said the hostage-taker had invited the victim, the child, for a walk before carrying out the action.
“Yesterday (October 27, 2024), the child S was taken by the perpetrator with permission from the victim’s parents. Then, the reason was to take S for a walk to his cousin’s house,” Nurma explained to Antara.
Nurma explained that the perpetrator took the victim for a walk and then rode a motorcycle from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m.
Then, Nurma also emphasized that the perpetrator was not the father of the child as previously reported but a business partner of the father of the child.
“Known. So the reason is that we got information from the reported perpetrator, who has known for two months with his mother and father. So, a business friend of the victim’s parents,” he said.
The victim was not seriously injured
After the incident, the child was also taken to the Jakarta Medical Center (JMC) Hospital in South Jakarta for further treatment.
Police and medical personnel provided special attention to the victim after treatment, starting from changing her clothes and giving her milk to restore her comfort and needs after the horrific experience.
Psychological support was also provided to help the victim recover from her trauma. Police members engaged her in conversation and joking to distract her from the events she had just experienced.
