Sunshine Coast teen Zac Whiting released from Bali jail after peace deal

A Queensland toolie has been released from a Bali jail cell a week after he was arrested for allegedly assaulting a security guard.

Teenage toolie Zac Whiting has been released from the sweltering Bali prison cell that he has called home for the past seven nights.

“I feel sorry. Very sorry. So sorry,” is all he had to say when he left Kuta police station with Australian security consultant John McLeod who was flown in to help negotiate a peace agreement with the Burger King security guard that the teen was accused of punching in the face twice.

The Queensland teenager looked chastened and tight-lipped as he left the police station in a crisp white-collared shirt and black shorts.

“All I can say is that I am sorry,” he said.

Finally free: Zac Whiting leaving Kuta Police Station. Picture: Dicky Bisinglasi

Zac Whiting shaking hands with Adni Junus Liu after reaching a peace deal. Picture: Dicky Bisinglasi

Whiting was detained in the early hours of last Friday morning in his room in Kuta Town House hotel where he was staying on a toolies trip, which gate crashes the annual schoolies party in Bali.

Mr McLeod – who was once Schapelle Corby’s security consultant – worked with Whiting’s Indonesian legal team to have him freed rather than face the Balinese judicial system, which

could have seen him sent to the island’s notorious Kerobokan jail.

The maximum sentence for such an assault is two years and eight months jail.

The Australian teenager says he is “sorry”. Picture: Dicky Bisinglasi

Zac Whiting is from Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Picture: Dicky Bisinglasi

“This young kid has done something silly and we are on day six in a jail cell in Indonesia with 10 of his closest friends that he has never met before. The consequences for the actions – for a moment of madness – are horrendous. And he’s facing jail,” Mr McLeod said while he was attempting to push through a guarantee of the teenagers’ freedom.

Whiting, an up-and-coming Aussie rules player and tradie’s assistant from the Sunshine Coast, allegedly punched Mr Adni Junus Liu twice with a clenched fist.

It was claimed the teen was arguing with a motorcycle taxi driver over a missing phone belonging to one of his group when the security guard intervened to see what was going on. Mr Liu said that Whiting attempted to make him responsible for the lost phone before the alleged assault took place.

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Australian Security Consultant John McCloud sealed the release deal with the teenager’s legal team. Picture: Dicky Bisinglasi

The police report about the incident stated that while Whiting’s friends remained at the scene, Whiting fled to his hotel.

With nothing but three plastic shopping bags full of his possessions and a cell shared with 10 men, the teen struggled with his emotions and was often seen weeping on his way to toilet breaks during the first few days of his detainment.

The peace agreement hit a few snags along the way including the security guard’s spurious demand of $20,000 in compensation, which is about 10 times more than the usual restitution agreed in similar assault cases.