Bali policeman murder: Australian sisters describe overhearing desperate shouts from the beach

TWO Australian sisters could hold clues to the death of a police officer in Bali. But, despite hearing events unfold on Kuta beach, they’ve not yet been interviewed.

TWO Sydney sisters who were in a Bali hotel across the road from the beach where a police officer was murdered have revealed how they were woken by a fight and loud screams of desperation on the night.

Coleen Bowen and Kim Watson now believe that what they heard was the fight leading up to the death of police officer Wayan Sudarsa.

The pair was horrified to wake up and find the beach in front of their hotel roped off with police tape. They subsequently learned that Australian woman Sara Connor and her British boyfriend had been detained as suspects in the murder.

Fearing involvement and scared they waited until they returned home to contact Australian Federal Police here.

The sisters arrived in Bali on August 16 and after dinner had gone to bed in separate beachfront rooms of the Pullman Hotel.

Sisters Kim Watson, left, and Coleen Bowen pictured on holiday in Bali. Picture: Supplied

About 1-1.30am both woke with a start, hearing screams.

“I heard this screaming that woke me up. It made me jump to my feet. I opened my curtain, I was scared, I didn’t want anyone to see me. I sat on the edge of my bed for a little while. I was shaking,” Ms Bowen recalls.

She said the voices sounded Australian.

“It sounded like they were screaming for their life.”

Ms Bowen says she heard a female voice screaming: “No, no, let him go” or something similar and “no, no, no”.

Bali police officer Wayan Sudarsa, 53, who was dead on Kuta beach.

And she heard a male voice yelling: “No, don’t do that you f … ing c…”

“They both did sound like they were being attacked. We heard the desperation in their voices, like they were being attacked.”

Ms Watson, who was in a different room, heard similar screams, which also woke her from sleep. Her partner, who was in the room with her, did not wake up.

She said a female voice had screamed words similar to: “No, let him go”, “leave him alone” and “leave me alone, get off, get away”.

And she heard a male voice saying: “No leave her alone you f … ing c …” and “No, leave her alone” and “Get off her you f … ing c…”.

“It was really horrific screaming and fighting. When I first woke up I lay in bed for a few minutes, I jumped up and I was going to go onto the veranda. Then I just stood there with my ear to the window and just listened,” Ms Watson recalls.

“The next day I woke and looked out the blinds and thought ‘oh my God, I feel sick’,” she says of seeing the police tape and presence.

“I didn’t hear any Indonesian voices. I heard the girl definitely screaming and I heard the guy swearing.”

Peter Strain, the Australian lawyer for Ms Connor, said the women’s evidence was consistent with what Connor has said to police in Bali during repeated police interrogations.

A police mugshot of David Taylor.

A police mugshot of Sara Conno.

“Sara has said all along in each of her statements to the police that her only involvement in the fight was to try and break it up. Evidence of her screaming “No, no let him go” would seem to me to be consistent with her claim”, Mr Strain told News Corporation.

The sisters wanted to go to police in Bali but were afraid of getting embroiled in the matter so decided to contact the Australian Federal Police once home.

One week after coming back Ms Bowen contacted the AFP and spoke to an officer on September 2, providing full details of everything she heard. She has not heard anything from the AFP since. She provided her sister’s contacts to the officer but Ms Watson has not been contacted by the AFP.

The AFP said it was not appropriate for it to comment, as the matter was being investigated by Indonesian authorities.

The women stayed for three nights at the Pullman Hotel and said that no local police had sought to question guests about the incident or seek out witnesses. They then went to a nearby island for three nights before coming back to the Pullman for another four nights.

Both sisters say they wanted to report what they heard because it may be important to the case. On the night both had been too scared to go out onto their balconies overlooking the beach.

“We may not be of any help because we didn’t see anything but we can at least say what we heard,” Ms Watson says.

Sisters Kim Watson, left, and Coleen Bowen in Bali. Picture: Supplied

And Ms Bowen says it was a matter of conscience and she had to come forward because she couldn’t live with herself if what she heard may have been significant to the case.

“We always wanted to report it, it was just a matter of when and how and who to. It is a serious matter and my conscience wouldn’t allow me not to report it,” Ms Bowen said.

Sara Connor, a mum of two from Byron Bay, and her British boyfriend David Taylor have been in custody since August 19, detained as suspects in the August 17 murder of the police officer.

Police have recommended that both be charged with murder, assault and beating causing death and prosecutors, who decide the charges and bring the matter to court, are currently assessing a lengthy brief of evidence against the couple.

Connor denies any involvement in the murder, saying that she tried to protect the victim and break up a fight between her boyfriend and the officer which started after she lost her handbag on the beach.