Bali tasering: Melbourne man Phoenix Daniel John Hanna jailed
A Melbourne man has been sentenced to five months in jail in Bali after tasering and assaulting a former friend over a villa dispute on the island.
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Melbourne man Phoenix Daniel John Hanna has been sentenced to five months’ jail in
Bali over allegedly tasering and assaulting a former friend of 20 years over a villa dispute on the island.
Denpasar District Court heard that Hanna will not appeal the sentence after he initially announced that he would appeal the decision.
“I’m not budu Gila (crazy). I’m gila (crazy), yeah? If I appeal I will have to come back (to
court) another four times with four weeks (between) which makes five months,” he said.
“If I appeal the only thing that comes out of it is that I get a longer sentence. I accept it and I get to go home in five months. There’s no point in appealing. There is nothing more I can do
accept bite my tongue and take a slap on the wrist,” Hanna said from behind bars in the
cells at the court.
Hanna, 47, admits to tasering Australian Nicholas James Carkeek, who has since returned to Australia, during the May 2017 altercation in the North Kuta villa that the men share and which is owned by a relative of Carkeek.
Hanna was accused of tasering Carkeek to the ground and kicking him. Carkeek did not appear in court to testify against Hanna and had at one time attempted to withdraw his police report about the incident. Hanna denies kicking Carkeek and claimed that he used the taser against Carkeek in self-defence.
“When I tasered Nic he fell directly on to my leg leaving me unable to stand on it let alone kick an ant,” Hanna wrote in his statement.
Earlier the court heard that Carkeek had suffered bruising to his back, neck and his left knee as a result of the alleged assault.
According to Hanna’s statement to police, Nicholas James Carkeek goes by his wife’s surname of Minniti.
The character Nic Minniti is a well-known Australian in Bali who has had involvement in
various restaurant ventures and beach clubs including the now defunct Shanghai Baby, which was jointly owned with Vincent Rae who created the famous Rae’s at Watego’s in Byron Bay. He also had a small slice of Seminyak’s once popular Cocoon Beach Club during its successful early days where he was known as ‘Mr Five Per Cent.’
According to Hanna, he and Carkeek had been friends for 20 years and they had shared the North Kuta villa for four years.
Hanna has been locked up since his arrest and bizarrely claims that Bali’s notorious Kerobokan prison is like a ‘camp’ with music, dancing and painting everywhere.
Originally published as Bali tasering: Melbourne man Phoenix Daniel John Hanna jailed