By Niken Prathivi

Jakarta Police are investigating a 10-year-old boy, N, for allegedly murdering his stepmother, Hetty Rohyati, 55, on Sunday.

Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Chrysnanda Dwi Laksana said on Wednesday the child was being questioned by investigators at the women and child protection unit in East Jakarta police station.

"There is a possibility *investigators* will name the boy prime suspect in the homicide. The investigators are still questioning him," Chrysnanda said.

Hetty, wife of Amir Hamzah, a lecturer at Gatot Subroto Army Hospital nursing school, was found dead in a drain at the rear of her house in Cibubur army housing complex in East Jakarta on Tuesday.

The police found she had been stabbed, the knife still in her body, and she had severe bruising about the head.

Ciracas Police chief Comr. Ngadiya said that N had confessed to the investigators that he had committed the offense.

Ngadiya said the boy had decided to kill his stepmother who, he claimed, had a bad temper and mistreated him.

Police confiscated a knife, a hammer, a cloth suspected to have been used to wipe away the blood stains and a wooden stick from the scene.

Hetty was apparently killed on Sunday when her husband, Amir, left the house to accompany Zulkarnain, the boy's stepbrother, to catch a bus at the Christian University of Indonesia (UKI) traffic junction in Cawang, East Jakarta. Zulkarnain was heading to Bandung, West Java. Upon his return, Amir could not find his wife. Amir waited until the next day before reporting the case to the Ciracas Police. He discovered Hetty's body the following day.

N was an orphan who lost his family in the tsunami that struck Aceh on Dec. 26, 2004 and Amir Hamzah and Hetty had adopted him.

The National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak) called on the police to approach the questioning of the boy sensitively.

"They should involve psychologists when interviewing him to help ease the pressure on the boy," Komnas Anak secretary-general Arist Merdeka Sirait told The Jakarta Post over the phone.

Arist insisted that police investigators should assume a presumption of innocence despite the fact the boy had admitted his wrongdoing.