Sara Connor and David Taylor on trial over death of Bali police officer
LOVERS Sara Connor and David Taylor may be holding hands in jail — but do they agree on what really happened when a Bali cop was killed?
WHAT happened to Wayan Sudarsa, the Bali cop whose bloodied body was found on Kuta beach during the early hours of August 17?
Indonesian police say the death of Mr Sudarsa was murder and they have charged two people — Byron Bay mother-of-two Sara Connor and her British boyfriend David Taylor, who face charges of murder, fatal assault in company and assault causing death.
The murder charge is punishable by 15 years jail.
The lovers are on trial in Denpasar and are fighting for their freedom. But although they have photographed recently holding hands in the notorious Kerobokan jail — once home to Schapelle Corby — the two have given different accounts on what happened that night.
Ms Connor’s future hinges on what the judge decides happened during those crucial few moments during the confrontation with the police officer.
DON’T ‘SACRIFICE’ HER, COURT TOLD
Lawyers representing Ms Connor, 46, have argued she should have at worst been charged with eliminating evidence or even released her.
They argue the case against her was “inaccurate, unclear and incomplete” and accused prosecutors of “sacrificing” simply to “save face”.
“Don’t force (yourself) to fulfil specific targets or save face by sacrificing the defendant and sacrificing the law,” they told the judges.
The indictment, they argued, was not based on the result of the investigation but “speculation” and gave the general impression of being “made up”.
It also focused on Mr Taylor, whose trial is being held separately.
His trial has heard evidence from Denpasar Detective Sulhadi who told how he believed the assault was triggered over Ms Connor’s purse, who Mr Taylor accused Mr Sudarsa of stealing.
The fight began because the police officer was “insulted” and ended with him dying “at the hands of two perpetrators”, Detective Sulhadi told the court.
Documents from the brief of evidence — seen by News Corp Australia — against Ms Connor and Mr Taylor reveal that after fighting with the couple and them leaving him lying on the beach the officer, Mr Sudarsa, appears to have been alive and struggling for breath.
Mr Taylor responded to his testimony through an interpreter, saying: “I hit the victim’s face with (his binoculars) and later with the (beer) bottle. That was for self-defence,” reported the Australian Associated Press.
He then said: “The one cutting (Mr Sudarsa’s) identity cards was Sara and it was Sara’s idea. It is not true that I killed (him) it was only self-defence.”
This was in relation to the officer’s ID card being cut up after the incident.
Detective Sulhadi said that during one of the interrogation sessions, held after their arrest in August, Ms Connor “confessed” to hitting Mr Sudarsa, sitting on him and wrapping her arm around him during the fight.
‘IS SHE INVOLVED IN DOING THAT?’
But in their lengthy 19-page challenge to the charges, Ms Connor’s lawyers said there was no
no description of how Ms Connor’s actions caused the death of Mr Sudarsa.
“The indictment, in the description of the acts done by the defendant Sara Connor, was not clear at all on the role of Sara Connor. Is she a perpetrator? Is the defendant someone who told people to do it? Is she involved in doing that? Is the defendant the one who persuaded or motivated David James Taylor to do the act that caused the victim to die?” they asked.
From the start, they said, the indictment revolved almost entirely around the actions of one person, Mr Taylor.
“None of the defendant’s statements and witness statements explain that Sara Connor has done the acts as mentioned (in the indictment),” the lawyers submitted.
When the trial against Ms Connor began, they said the only charge against her should be that of concealing evidence. That related to something she had admitted, which was cutting up Mr Sudarsa’s identification cards and dumping of them.
The couple’s bloody clothes and Mr Sudarsa’s mobile phone were allegedly burned by Mr Taylor, something the lawyers submitted Ms Connor knew about.
NO GROUP ASSAULT: TAYLOR
In his evidence, Mr Taylor threw his partner something of a lifeline: he told the court it was not a group attack. Only he was involved.
This would separate her from the murder charge, the most serious she faces.
But Mr Taylor was not admitting to murder. In his response to the evidence of Detective Sulhadi he denied it was murder.
Mr Taylor’s translator said on his behalf: “It is not true that the defendant committed murder. He only defended himself.”
WHAT DID THE WITNESS SEE?
A witness, Pullman Hotel security guard, Suryana, said in his statement that at about 1.05am on August 17, he went to check the beach after his colleague heard a commotion.
In the statement tendered to court, Suryana claimed he saw Mr Taylor allegedly sitting on the police officer while Ms Connor allegedly had her left arm around the officer’s neck.
This is something that Ms Connor denies.
“Once I got into the beach, I saw a local man lying on the sand. His body was sat on by a foreign man that had dreadlocks hair while holding the victim’s hand. And one other is woman that was facedown while her arm was around the victim’s neck, her left hand. At that time I heard the victim sighing like someone kidding and his body was not moving,” Suryana said in his statement.
“When I saw that, I stayed silent and only observed them for around 15 minutes. Because they were only acting like that, I went back to the security post as I did not see any suspicious things.”
He later claimed he saw the dreadlocked man washing sand off his body.
THE PROSECUTION
But when the trial opened prosecutors were adamant Mr Sudarsa was killed because of the actions of both Mr Taylor and Ms Connor.
The couple were handcuffed to each other as they were led into the holding cells at Denpasar District Court in preparation for the first day of their trials.
They alleged Mr Taylor confronted Mr Sudarsa and began searching his pockets and demanding, “Where is the bag?”
They then began to struggle violently, and Mr Taylor allegedly struck Mr Sudarsa with binoculars and a mobile phone.
While this was happening Ms Connor — said to be “screaming in fright” and “hysterical” — intervened and had her hair pulled and was twice bitten by Mr Sudarsa, they alleged.
Their version of events was Mr Sudarsa choked Mr Taylor, before he responded by striking him three times with the beer bottle.
It was after Mr Sudarsa was unconscious they allege his body was searched and his ID cards taken.
Mr Taylor will not be formally challenging the indictment but will instead fight some of the allegations throughout the trial, unlike Ms Connor who has taken issue with the indictment itself.
They will both return to court next week.
China warships question Labor won’t answer
The country’s defence minister has held back on a key question about what Chinese warships were doing when they circumnavigated Australia this year.
Update after Aussie shot dead in Bali
Indonesian police have provided an update into their investigation into the death of a Melbourne man who was shot dead in Bali.
Albo keeps mum on big China question
Anthony Albanese has given a murky answer to a key question on the “imminent” threat posed by China.