Jakarta – The Garut Police in West Java revealed on Wednesday that they had arrested a 26-year-old self-proclaimed dukun (shaman) identified as RGS for the alleged sexual assault of 20 underage girls.
According to a statement made by one of the reported victims' parents, RGS had told the girls they would encounter bad luck and they could avoid it by letting him touch them or have sexual intercourse with them, said Garut Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Budi Satria Wiguna
"The perpetrator offered them two rituals: kias and pangsal. He said these rituals could keep the victims safe from bad luck," Budi said as quoted by Kompas.com.
He added that RGS was not a real dukun and had been working odd jobs in his village.
RGS also admitted to looking for potential victims on Facebook by acting as a friend to whom they could confide their problems. He said he had been doing this for about a year.
According to Diah Kurniasari, head of the Garut Integrated Care Center for the Empowerment of Women and Children (P2TP2A), her organization will assist the victims and their families.
"We have prepared a team of psychologists to counsel the victims and their parents," she said. (ars)