Adiguna Sutowo (31 May 1958 – 18 April 2021) was an Indonesian businessman and convicted murderer, whose business group’s interests included Hard Rock Cafe Jakarta. He was found guilty in 2005 of murdering a waiter at the Sutowo family's Jakarta Hilton Hotel (subsequently renamed Sultan Hotel). He was sentenced to seven years in jail but was released in less than three years. He died on 18 April 2021 at Jakarta's Pertamina Central Hospital.
Early life and education Adiguna was born in Jakarta on 31 May 1958. He is the youngest of seven children born to Ibnu Sutowo and Zaleha. His siblings are: Nuraini Zaitun Kamarukmi Luntungan, Endang Utari Mokodompit, Widarti, Pontjo Nugro Susilo, Sri Hartati Wahyuningsih, and Handara.
His father headed state oil and gas company Pertamina from 1957 until 1976, by which time his corrupt mismanagement had enabled him to amass an enormous family fortune and nearly bankrupted the company, despite the global oil boom of the 1970s.
Adiguna attended Senior High School IV in Gambir, Central Jakarta. As the youngest son, he was reportedly spoiled by his mother and was allowed to drive his own Mercedes-Benz sports car to school. A former high school classmate recalled Adiguna often skipped class to go hunting in the jungle with his gang but managed to keep his grades up.
Adiguna attended the University of Southern California to study business. He returned to Indonesia in 1981 to commence his business career.
2004 Kemang gun incident In October 2004, Adiguna threatened to kill David Reynaldo Titawono (then 22), the nephew of rock musician Achmad Albar and singer Camelia Malik. The incident took place in Kemang, South Jakarta, reportedly at a property of Indonesian KFC franchise owner Ricardo Gelael, who is the husband of Albar’s ex-wife, Rini S. Bono. Some accounts said Adiguna, who was accompanied by his bodyguards, shot David through or near his ear. After the incident, police revoked Adiguna’s firearms license and confiscated a gun that fired rubber bullets.
According to local media reports, an altercation had occurred between David and one of Adiguna's nephews, prompting Adiguna to intervene. Ricardo Gelael did not report the incident to police, but the family of Albar did. Adiguna and Ricardo were then questioned at Jakarta Police headquarters, but the case was later settled by the two families and the Albar family retracted the police report. Camelia Malik confirmed to Gatra magazine that “Adiguna accidentally shot my nephew with an air rifle, and only about his ears."
New Year's Day murder At about 4:47am on 1 January 2005, Adiguna shot dead a waiter, Yohanes Brachmans Haerudy Natong, better known as Rudy, at Jakarta Hilton Hotel’s Island Bar Fluid Club & Lounge, located on the first floor of the hotel.
Adiguna had celebrated the New Year at Jakarta's Dragonfly nightclub with his second wife, Vika Dewayani, and their companions Novia Herdiana alias Tinul and Thomas 'Tom' Edward Sisk. The group then went to the Hilton Hotel, where they first went to Adiguna's room. Some time after 3:00am, Adiguna, Tinul and Tom left the room and went to the Fluid Club, where they chatted with other people present. Tom went to the lounge, while at about 4:40am, Adiguna sat at the bar and Tinul stood beside him. Tinul ordered a vodka tonic for Adiguna and a lychee martini for herself. She asked Rudy if the drinks could be charged to her room. Rudy told her that was not possible, so Tinul settled the Rp150,000 bar tab with her HSBC Visa card. Adiguna then ordered another round of the same two drinks and attempted to pay with his BCA debit card. Rudy took the card and asked the cashier Hari Suprasto if it could be used. Hari replied the machine was not available. Rudy then returned the card to Tinul, who gave it to Adiguna. Rudy explained the card could not be accepted because the bar did not have a machine that could process it. The rejection upset Tinul. “Don’t you know who he is? He’s the biggest shareholder of this hotel!” she said, pointing at Adiguna, who was seated next to her.
Adiguna then was angered, stood up, took out a Smith & Wesson .22-caliber pistol from his trousers and held the gun at Rudy’s forehead. Police said Adiguna pulled the trigger twice, but no bullet fired until he pulled the trigger a third time, shooting Rudy in the head. The waiter collapsed and began to die. Adiguna then wiped the gun handle, handed the pistol to a disc jockey Werner Saferna alias Wewen, who was standing about one meter away. Adiguna then left the club.
Rudy’s body was carried out of the bar and taken to the hotel's Sutowo-Sutowo Medical Clinic. The body was later taken to Mintohardjo Naval Hospital on Jalan Bendungan Hilir, where Rudy was pronounced dead. His body was guarded by two Hilton security guards and a Fluid Club guard. Rudy’s fiancee, Riska Leliana, complained that the club's management had not apologized or offered any sympathy over the murder.
Later on 1 January, Jakarta Police declared Adiguna a suspect. His hotel room, Room 1564, contained 19 bullets of the type that had killed Rudy. The bullets had been hidden in the toilet. Media reports, quoting initial police findings, said Adiguna was high on crystal methamphetamine and alcohol at the time of the killing. Adiguna had a nosebleed on the morning of the murder. Police found bloodstained towels, tissues and a handkerchief in his room at the Hilton. Police initially thought the blood might have come from Rudy, but a forensic examination indicated the blood came from Adiguna. Detikcom online news portal quoted a police source as saying the nosebleed could have been the result of nasal inhalation of narcotics because the suspect had a propensity for that method of drug taking.
Adiguna denied shooting Rudy. He told police he had only passed through Fluid Club looking for his daughter. He denied sitting at the bar. He denied talking to Tinul. He denied carrying a pistol. He claimed he had helped to carry Rudy, which caused blood to get on his shirt. However, his lawyer said the blood on the shirt had come Adiguna and not from Rudy.
Wewen, who had received the murder weapon from Adiguna, kept the pistol at his house for five days before handing it over to police and giving a statement. A police ballistics examination matched the pistol to the bullet fired into Rudy’s head.
The Jakarta Post newspaper and detikcom online news portal in January 2005 quoted police as claiming that Adiguna was a cocaine user. His lawyer denied that Adiguna uses narcotics. National Police chief of detectives Commissioner General Suyitno Landung Sudjono in January 2005 said samples of Adiguna's blood and urine tested positive to illegal drugs: methamphetamine and phenmetrazine.
By early February 2005, police said they were still gathering evidence and awaiting results to charge Adiguna with narcotics offenses, separate from the murder and firearm charges. Police later claimed that subsequent tests of Adiguna's fingernail and hair samples were negative, so the drugs charges were withdrawn. Police Detective chief Suyitno Landung, who was later jailed for taking bribes in a separate case, declined to explain why the results were different from the blood and urine tests.
The Hilton, rebadged ‘The Sultan’ in the aftermath of the killing, is owned by Adiguna's older brother Pontjo Nugro Susilo, who is more commonly known as Pontjo Sutowo.
The 25-year-old victim, Rudy, was from a low-income family on Flores island in East Nusa Tenggara province and had been working part-time at the Hilton to support his law studies at Jakarta's Bung Karno University. He also supported his two younger siblings. He was due to have graduated in 2005. His parents were initially informed he had been shot dead during a protest against fuel price rises in Jakarta.
Before Adiguna’s trial commenced, his brother Pontjo Sutowo traveled to Flores, where he presented Rudy’s family with a traditional condolence gesture of a cow's head. He also handed over an undisclosed amount of money. Rudy's father wrote a letter, later produced in court, asking the judges to give as light a sentence as possible to Adiguna.
Following his arrest, Adiguna was initially detained at Jakarta Police detention center. He was later transferred to Jakarta's Salemba jail, where he stayed in Block K, which is described as the "executive wing". Other high-profile inmates of Block K at the time included Aceh governor Abdullah Puteh and Golkar Party tycoon Nurdin Halid. Lawyer Amir Karyatim said Adiguna was able to laugh in the jail and could order coffee from Starbucks and nasi padang.
Murder trial Prosecutors delayed the start of Adiguna’s trial on the grounds that he required hospitalization because of an “asthma attack”. After the trial commenced on 22 March 2005 at Central Jakarta District Court, he was “too sick” to attend some sessions. On other occasions, he arrived late to the court.
Despite being absent on medical grounds, he did have supporters present. These supporters were often dressed in white robes and described by the media as "hired thugs" trying to intimidate the Christian victim's family and the judges.
The charge of murder with intent but without premeditation carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, while illegal possession of an unregistered firearm and ammunition carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Rudy’s fiancee, Riska Leliana, said she hoped Adiguna would get the death penalty, but she was pessimistic about the Indonesian legal system. Prosecutors recommended a life sentence.
In preparing the case, police had taken statements from 20 witnesses over the murder. Many of the witnesses subsequently retracted their statements or gave conflicting testimony during the trial.
Tinul retracted her police statements, in which she had admitted to witnessing the murder. She told the court that she had asked “the waiter” whether she could charge the drinks to her room, and he had told her that she could not. She said she then handed the vodka tonic to Adiguna and told him she could not charge his drink to her room, but she had already paid for it. She then claimed she got up and walked away, heard a gunshot and ran away without looking back. Then she claimed she informed Adiguna’s wife Vika that “something has happened downstairs and I am worried about Guna”.
Harry Gunawan Isa, the head of bar housekeeping, also changed his account. He initially told police he saw someone who 50% resembled Adiguna point a pistol at Rudy, then heard two clicking noises followed by a gunshot and realized Rudy had been shot in the head. But in court he denied hearing any clicking noises and said he was no longer certain the gunman resembled Adiguna.
Disk jockey, Werner Saferna alias Wewen (35 at the time), also gave testimony that conflicted with his original police statement. He told police he saw Adiguna shoot Rudy and saw the waiter fall to the floor. He said Adiguna then pushed the pistol into his hand and left. But in court, Wewen claimed he only glimpsed Adiguna’s hand pointing the pistol at Rudy’s head.
Adiguna was identified in court as the murderer by Cut Nina, a bartender on duty on the morning of the killing. She was standing two meters from Rudy when he was shot. She said she had heard Tinul attempt to intervene in an argument between Adiguna and Rudy, moments before the shooting. Fluid Club general manager Yerry Eka Nugraha testified in court that three of his staff had immediately after the shooting informed him that Adiguna shot Rudy.