A 24-year-old Indonesian woman, Leti Fuji Lestari, is paying a high price in terms of public ridicule and the risk of criminal charges for making a false report with the Police in the Bali Regency of Buleleng. Her false police report shocked many people in Bali when news media relayed her story of a violent robbery at knifepoint on the Singaraja to Denpasar Highway near Gitgit that purportedly occurred on Monday, 13 July 2020. Puji told Police how three robbers forced her Yamaha Motorcycle to the side of the road where, at knifepoint, they stole her purse containing Rp. 750,000 and made off with her motorcycle.
An island-wide bulletin filed by the Police quickly located the missing motorcycle bearing the license plate DK 6075 ZU parked near Kedonganan Beach in South Bali. Police became increasingly suspicious as the young university student’s story changed with each retelling and did not match up with any plausible reconstruction of the facts of the case.
In the end, Leti Fuji Lestari, who hails from Banjar Dinas Banyubiru, Desa Kaliakah, in Negara admitted to Police that her report of being the victim of an armed robbery was a complete fabrication.
Tribun-Bali and RadarBali reported that Police in Buleleng revealed that Leti Fuji apparently attended a party on Kedonganan Beach, where she became highly intoxicated. Drunk, she then boarded an online “ojek” motorcycle, only to realize when she was almost home that she had forgotten her motorcycle and left it in Kedonganan.
Frightened to tell the truth to her family, Fuji concocted the scheme to report a violent robbery to explain to her parents how she arrived home without her motorcycle.
When Police confronted the coed with her lies and the legal consequences of filing a false police report, she decided to retract her statement and make a public confession and apology at the Buleleng Police Headquarters on Saturday, 18 July 2020. Leti Fuji Lestari has also posted a public apology on her Facebook Page.
While Police can file criminal charges against the university student, studying to become a midwife at the Stikes Academy in Buleleng, Police have decided to accept the young woman’s apology, allowing her to continue her studies, and simply suffer the indignity of her misdeed gone viral permanently recorded on the Internet.
It is unclear what, if any, sanctions might be imposed by Stikes Buleleng Academy for bringing dishonor upon Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Kesehatan (Stikes) Buleleng.