T

he Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK) began on Friday to verify the eligibility of several witnesses in the murder case of 8-year-old Engeline Margriet Megawe to receive the agency'€™s protection following their claim that they had been threatened and intimidated.

Speaking to journalists after a two-hour closed-door meeting with nine witnesses at the Denpasar branch of the Integrated Service Center for the Empowerment of Women and Children (P2TP2A), LPSK expert staff member Susi Laningtias confirmed that the witnesses had asked for the agency'€™s protection after they had been separately threatened by unidentified people who demanded that they stop giving information to the police.

'€œThey have asked for our protection as they claim to have been repeatedly intimidated,'€ Susi said on Friday.

She refused to provide more details about the threats. She confirmed, however, that the witnesses had claimed that they and family members had received threats through text messages and phone calls. '€œWe will examine all reports before deciding whether to provide protection,'€ she said, adding that the agency would need at least a month to complete such a review.

One of the witnesses, Siti Sapura, said she had received many threats since the police unraveled the murder case last month.

'€œSince the body of Engeline was found, I have received threats from many people, by phone, text message and social media,'€ said Siti, who is also a P2TP2A member.

Siti claimed that other witnesses, including Engeline'€™s biological parents, had received similar threats.

Engeline was found buried in the backyard of her adoptive mother'€™s house in Denpasar on June 10. After she was reported missing on May 16, the missing child attracted public attention when the family created a Facebook page for Engeline called '€œFind Engeline '€” Bali'€™s Missing Child'€.

The Denpasar Police named Agustay '€œAgus'€ Hamda May, a former domestic helper of Engeline'€™s adoptive mother Margriet Christina Megawe, a suspect in the case several hours after the discovery of Engeline'€™s body. Agus reportedly told the police that he had raped Engeline while she was unconscious and buried her in the backyard of the house.

Agus, however, later retracted his statement, saying it was Margriet who had murdered the child on the day she was reported missing.

On Sunday, the police named Margriet the main suspect in the homicide by referring to a number of pieces of evidence, including Agus'€™ confession, autopsy results, statements by other witnesses and results from the crime scene examination carried out using the National Police'€™s Indonesian Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (Inafis) unit.