Aussie Sara Connor and her British boyfriend stressed ahead of day one of their murder trial
LOOKING bewildered and on the verge of tears Aussie mum Sara Connor has told a Bali court that she is innocent on day one of her murder trial.
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LOOKING bewildered and on the verge of tears, Connor raised her arm, “I am innocent, I am innocent, please”.
Her lawyer Erwin Siregar had just told the court that next week he will deliver a defence exception or rebuttal of the prosecution case.
After pleading her innocence Connor breathed deeply, appearing to attempt to stop herself from breaking down in tears.
Earlier she had cried in the court holding cell as she spoke with a member of her Indonesian legal team.
And the judges warned the media that Connor and her British boyfriend David Taylor are innocent until proven guilty.
Both cases have been adjourned to next Wednesday for further hearing. Connor’s lawyers will deliver their exception and Taylor’s lawyers have opted to go straight to police witnesses. They will not deliver an exception to the case, saying their client admits he was involved in the events leading up to the death of the officer.
Connor and Taylor arrived at the Denpasar District Court to go on trial for the murder of a Bali police officer.
The couple, wearing orange suspect vests, were escorted from a prison bus handcuffed together, Connor shielding her face from the media with a large fan.
The couple were initially placed in separate holding cells at the courthouse.
Connor who was in a cell with three other women, immediately retreated into the toilet area to hide. The other female prisoners are on drugs and theft charges.
Taylor was taken into a cell with other male prisoners.
Speaking at court Connor told the judges “I am innocent”.
Earlier David Taylor’s lawyer Haposan Sihombing said before court started that his client loved Sara Connor more than ever before.
Taylor appeared in court in a white shirt and black trousers, still clean-shaven and with short hair. At the time of the incident Taylor had long dreadlocks but before the case was handed to the prosecutors and he was moved to Kerobokan jail where he cut his hair.
Judges asked Taylor about his name and details and whether he was healthy and ready for the trial. He replied that he was.
Prosecutor Anak Agung Ngurah Jayalantara read an 18-page indictment to the court during Tayor’s appearance.
For most of the time Taylor sat in the defendant’s chair in the middle of the court, directly in front of the three judges who will decide his fate, listening to a translator.
Earlier Connor’s lawyer Erwin Siregar said outside court that his client, Sara Connor, was sad and nervous about the court appearance.
During his brief discussion with her at the holding cells, Connor remained hidden around the corner.
Mr Siregar said that he objected to the charges against his client.
“The point for Sara ... (she) clearly tried to help the victim so according to us this cannot be murder for Sara,” Mr Siregar said.
He said the appropriate charge was one of concealing evidence in a crime.
He said that so far his client had spoken about three times to her two boys in Byron Bay, who are aged nine and 11 years.
Asked why Connor had not gone to the police after the fight, Mr Siregar said the motorbike taxi had refused to take her when she had tried to go to the police station to report the incident. And she had no money as her bag was lost.
Connor’s Sydney barrister Peter Strain is at the court to assist her today, along with Byron Bay based friend Ambra Bertoldi.
The couple, who will face separate trials, are accused of murdering Bali police officer Wayan Sudarsa on a Kuta beach in the early hours of August 17 this year.
Connor, who turns 46 tomorrow and Taylor, 34, face three charges each — murder (unpremeditated), violence causing death and assault causing death. The murder charge carries a maximum 15 years in jail.
In the courtroom they are expected to see, for the first time, the grieving widow of the man they are accused of killing.
Ketut Arsini is steeling herself for her attendance at the Denpasar District Court and says while she is emotional she will control herself.
“I will control myself. I will try hard. I am very angry but I will try very hard to control myself. I don’t want any problems in the court so the trial will go smoothly,” Ms Arsini said.
She however says she can never forgive the couple for what happened.
In an 18-page indictment, obtained by News Corporation, prosecutors will today allege that the couple together intentionally deprived police officer Sudarsa of his life and “blatantly and together used violence”, resulting in his death.
The document sets out the fight, the blows to officer Sudarsa’s head and body with a broken beer bottle, binoculars and mobile phone, leaving 17 head wounds and 42 wounds in total, and how the couple then took his wallet and ID cards, leaving his bleeding body face up on the
sand. They are alleged to have thrown away the cards and burned the bloody clothes they were wearing on the night of the murder during their three days on the run.
The fatal fight with the officer is alleged to have been sparked by allegations from Taylor that he had stolen Connor’s handbag from the beach on the night.
“David sat down on the victim’s back and both of his knees suppressed the victim’s both arms so that the victim cannot move while David told Sara to search for her bag ... later on as Sara was still hysterical the defendant Sara Connor did not search for her bag properly then Sara Connor came back to the place where David Taylor was on top of the victim,” the indictment, to be read to court alleges.
It says that Connor then put her left arm around the victim’s neck while Taylor continued to ask the officer “where is the f ... ing bag”.
The indictment alleges that Taylor hit the victim on the back of the head with the beer bottle so hard the bottle smashed.
“After David James Taylor hit the victim’s head with a glass bottle the victim fell onto the sand in the facedown position and did not move anymore. David James Taylor then pushed the victim to his right side. Later on David James Taylor was still holding the broken glass bottle in his left hand. David moved the broken bottle to the right hand. He then hit the bottle to the victim’s body. David hit the right side of the victim’s body, using the sharp part of the broken glass bottle. Then David James Taylor hit the victim’s head on time using the mouth of the bottle and the victim did not move anymore,” the prosecutor’s indictment says.
Lawyers said last night that both were nervous and stressed about their court appearances and that Connor was worried, having heard jail talk that in the Indonesian system innocent people are not exonerated.
Connor maintains her innocence, saying that she played no role in killing the veteran Bali police officer, whose battered body was found on a Kuta beach in the early hours of August 17 this year, and that she tried to break up a fight between her lover and the officer.
According to her lawyer Robert Khuana Connor has told him that she would like to meet the family of officer Sudarsa to offer sympathy and assistance to them.
It comes after the officer’s widow, Ketut Arsini, said this week that she will never forgive Connor and Taylor for what happened on the beach that night while he was working night shift and in full police uniform.
An emotional Ms Arsini told News Corporation that when she received a letter of apology from Taylor she was so angry she wanted to rip it up. And she says she has no need to receive a similar letter from Connor and has no desire to meet them or their families.
While Connor does not admit guilt, Mr Khuana told News Corporation yesterday that his client wanted to offer any assistance she could to the police officer’s family.
“She wants to express her sympathy to the family and if its possible, if there is assistance that she can give she will give assistance,” Mr Khuana said.
And Mr Khuana expressed a hope that when the time comes, in court, that Taylor will tell the truth about the night of the killing and about the fact that Connor was not involved.
“He is the key witness for Sara,” he said. The couple will give evidence as witnesses in each other’s trials.
Since their arrest Taylor has changed his original statements.
Originally he claimed that Connor had told him that she had hit the officer but he later retracted that and said he could no longer remember, having been stressed and panicked on the night.
His lawyer Haposan Sihombing says that Taylor is in love with Connor.
“The fact is David loves Sara,” Mr Sihombing says.
News Corporation recently photographed the couple inside Kerobokan jail holding hands.
Taylor’s lawyers says they do not intend to make defence excepsi or rebuttal to the prosecutor’s indictment. Connor’s lawyers will make one, in a weeks’ time.
Taylor’s lawyers will argue that the death of the officer resulted from a fight in self-defence and that there was no intent.
“Related with this case, he (David) said that he is very regretful for what already happened, which he never imagined could happen, and has caused the death of the victim,” his lawyer Haposan Sihombing said after visiting his client in Kerobokan prison yesterday.
“He is ready for the trial,” he said, adding that Taylor was ready to accept the court’s verdict.
Mr Sihombing said he client had no intention to kill the victim on the fateful night and they would argue there was not enough evidence to sustain the murder charge against his client.
“At the beginning, he didn’t realise that the victim died. Because they were only involved in a fight and each of them must defend themselves.
“Related with this case, he said that he is very regretful for what already happened, which he never imagined could happen, and has caused the death of the victim.”
Another of Taylor’s lawyers, Elysabeth Rajagukguk, said the case would hinge around whether there was an intention to kill the police officer that night.
“There is no intention to kill. But they are involved in a fight. When we are in a fight, of course, each of them try to defend themselves.
So, this is about a fight and defending himself,” Ms Rajagukguk said.
“David is a little bit worried (about court) because this is a first time experience for David. But we always support him. Generally, David is in a good condition,” she said.
Connor and Taylor each face three charges murder (unpremeditated), violence causing death and assault causing death. The murder charge carries a maximum 15 years in jail.
The couple had been on a one-week romantic Bali getaway and Connor had only arrived in Bali the afternoon before the killing of the officer.
Taylor, who was already in Bali, had collected her from the airport that afternoon and the couple had dinner and were on the beach drinking beer when their paths crossed with Wayan Sudarsa.
The couple had gone to the water’s edge to kiss and cuddle, leaving Connor’s handbag, which they later discovered had disappeared. While searching for the bag they came across the officer and Taylor accused him of stealing the bag. A fight broke out, Sudarsa lost his life, Connor and Taylor were arrested and the process to decide their fate begins today.
The trials are expected to run for several months.
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