Witnesses in Bali murder trial fail to show up, despite court summons

JUDGES in the murder trial of a Byron Bay woman and her boyfriend in Bali demand action after only one of 20 witnesses called to testify turned up.

A judge has demanded a search be carried out for key witnesses who failed to appear to give statements in a murder trial in Bali. Picture: Lukman S. Bintoro

JUDGES in Bali have demanded that a key witness to the murder of a police officer on a Kuta beach, who has ignored numerous summonses, be brought to court next week to testify.

The man, a security guard, is one of the few people who saw part of the fight between now dead police officer Wayan Sudarsa and the two accused, Byron Bay mum Sara Connor and her British boyfriend David Taylor.

He was summonsed to appear yesterday (Wednesday) at the trial of Taylor and earlier in the week at Connor’s trial but failed to show.

None of the 10 prosecution witnesses called to testify at Connor’s trial on Tuesday showed up and yesterday, only one of the nine called to appear at Taylor’s trial appeared.

Judges in both trials are now becoming frustrated at the failure of prosecutors to get their witnesses into court and have given them until next week to mobilise them.

Suryana, a security guard at the Pullman Hotel, across the road from the murder scene at a Kuta beach, is one of the few people to have witnessed the fight which lead up to the officer’s death.

Sara Connor and her boyfriend David Taylor inside Kerobokan Jail today. Picture: Lukman S. Bintoro

But since then Suryana has left his job at the hotel and moved back to his home in the village in West Java and has not come to court.

Yesterday, in lieu of his appearance, prosecutors in Taylor’s trial, read his statement to the court. In his statement, Suryana told police that at 1.05am he went from his post, at the Pullman Hotel, across the road from the beach, after his boss heard someone calling out.

There, he said in the statement, he observed a local man on the sand, with a foreign man with dreadlocks sitting on top of him and a foreign woman with her arm around the officer’s neck.

“Once I get in to the beach, I saw a local man (victim) lying on the sand. His body was sat on by a foreign man that have a dreads hair while holding the victim’s hand,” the statement said.

“And one other is woman that facedown while having her left arm around the victim’s neck. At that time I heard the victim sighing (aaaa....aaaa....aaaa) like someone kidding and his body was not moving.

Taylor has asked the court to summon a guard who witnessed the incident to appear in court. Picture: Lukman S. Bintoro

“When I saw that, I stay silent and only observe (saw) them for around 15 minutes. Because they were only seen like that (like people kidding), I went back to the post (security post) as I did not see suspicious things.

“When I already in security post, at around 2.15, a foreign man with a dreadlocks hair that I had seen sat on the victim’s body at the beach was passing, walking to north while cleaning sands from his body.

“After that, I did not pay attention again.”

Suryana said he watched for about 15 minutes, but believing it was not serious, left them to it.

He had no idea the man on the sand was a police officer.

That part of the beach is notorious for transvestites and Suryana appears to have thought the incident was not serious, heading back to his security post.

After hearing the statement, Judge Yanto said Suryana was an important witness in both Taylor and Connor’s trials.

The guard claims he saw Connor’s arm around the neck of the victim. Picture: Lukman S. Bintoro

“This witness statement is very important. He is also a key witness for Sara. So we should hear his statement directly. Please summon him again to come to the court next week,” Judge Yanto said.

He told the prosecutor to seek assistance from the police to have him brought to

court.

The prosecutor said he had summoned Suryana three times, through the Pullman Hotel, as well as sending him a letter to his address to appear.

After hearing the statement read to court Taylor told the judges it was not all true.

“The statement that was read, some is correct and some is not correct,” Taylor said.

Taylor questioned how, if the witness was in the position he claimed to be in while watching, he could have seen that his girlfriend Connor was holding the victim’s neck.

“If the victim’s head was in the north, then I sat on him, then Sara held the victim’s neck and the witness is behind, how could the witness see Sara holding the victim’s head?” Taylor said when asked by judges which parts of the statement he disagreed with.

Taylor’s statement is consistent with claims his girlfriend was not involved in the murder. Picture: Lukman S. Bintoro

Taylor’s statement is consistent with his claims that his girlfriend was not involved in the murder and he was alone in the fight.

After court Taylor told News Corporation that he wants Suryana to appear in person so that he can directly question him.

“I’d like him to appear in court, I think he is a very important witness and I agree with the judge that it is very important he appears in court. I would personally like to question him,” Taylor said.

And he reaffirmed his love for 46-year-old Connor, saying he loves her very much.

This was evident as the pair was photographed arm in arm at Kerobokan prison before Taylor went to Denpasar District Court.

Taylor told reporters at the conclusion of his trial that he was “confident”.

Both trials resume next week for the remaining prosecution witnesses.

Originally published as Witnesses in Bali murder trial fail to show up, despite court summons