Durian. A 65-year-old French National accused of molesting over 300 children that was arrested by Jakarta Police died in a police hospital on July 12 evening after a suicide attempt in his detention cell at Jakarta Police headquarters.
“Last Thursday, detention officers conducted patrol to detention rooms and found the suspect FAC, 65, with his neck was tied up with a wire, [he] tried to kill himself,” Jakarta Police spokesman Chief Comrs. Yusri Yunus said on Monday at Jakarta Police headquarters, referring to Francois Abello Camille.
Police immediately brought Camille to a police hospital in East Jakarta for treatment, but died three days later.
The Jakarta Police announced that they had Camille on July 9 but did not reveal when he was arrested.
Camille had apparently molested and abused at least 305 street girls between December 2019 until he was caught red-handed with two underage girls in a hotel in West Jakarta.
He was alleged of violating Indonesian 2016 Law on Child Protection and 2016 Law on Information and Electronic Transaction and facing maximum penalty of death sentence and chemical castration.
He had been returning to Indonesia since February 2015 using tourist visas, and was able to speak basic Indonesian.
According to the police, all of his victims are underage women between the ages of 10 to 16, and unregistered citizens, which made it hard for police to identify and find the victims.
Camille was uncooperative during investigations and refused to provide passwords for the various recordings on his laptop.
However, on Monday, the Jakarta Police managed to find 19 of Camille’s victims.
Camille’s arrest was made in West Jakarta after the police received a report from local residents about a foreign male approaching young street girls, promising them work as models, and paying them between $17 and $70 (Rp 250,000 to Rp 1 million) to engage in sex acts in his hotel. The girls that refused were beaten by the suspect.
Camille placed four to five hidden cameras to record his sexual activities with his victims, police said.
Investigation
Following Camille’s suicide attempt, police investigated officers who were on duty at the time the event took place and found that the suspect managed to get the wire from the ceiling of his cell due to his height.
It is not clear whether police will continue investigations after the death of the suspect.
During preliminary interrogation, Camille said that he committed the crime alone without assistance from others.
Indonesian Social Affairs Minister Juliari Batubara said shortly after Camille’s arrest that the government of Indonesia under his ministry is willing to protect the victims going forward.
