Bali crime wave leaves expats bruised and wary

RISING costs on the holiday island are also fuelling thefts against locals.

Richard Irving, victim of Kuta mugging. Picture: Deborah Cassrels

IT was a rare visit to Kuta’s nightspots on Saturday with friends ­visiting from Britain. But Richard Irving, a Bali-based London expat, won’t be back after being mugged by about eight Indonesians as he ventured home at 4am.

As Mr Irving, 31, tried to hail a taxi, the group surrounded him on the pretext of offering transport while pickpocketing him.

“I noticed a hand on my wallet and grabbed his arm,” Mr Irving said. “They tripped me up, pushed me to the ground and started kicking and punching me.’’

Mr Irving’s ordeal is one of a growing number of increasingly violent crimes being committed in Bali’s tourism centre. Reports on Bali social media reveal victims suffering increasingly serious injuries such as punctured lungs and broken ribs.

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade figures show 32 Australians died in Bali in 2012-13, and 90 were hospitalised. Despite that, Australians continue to top foreign arrivals and 800,000 ­visited the island last year.

Chief of city police Joka Hari Utomo, whose beat covers Kuta, Legian and Seminyak, admits foreigners do not like to report crimes. Nine incidents, most involving theft and motorbike robberies, have been recorded this year, compared with 34 last year.

Tourism Board chief Ngurah Wijaya said unbridled development, choked traffic and rising living costs were contributing to the outbreak, which was also targeting locals.

“We are very concerned … but it’s a police job,” Mr Wijaya said. “The police need better training and they should speak English but the problem is they get moved around — out of Bali.’’

Expats and tourists have taken to social media to document crimes and hotspots. Ubud Watch has catalogued 62 reported incidents in Ubud from ­December 2012 to this month. Last month shows the heaviest traffic: there were 17 thefts compared with none last April.

Mr Irving’s ordeal has left him with a broken toe, bruises, grazes and several lumps on his head — and without his phone. Though he retained his wallet, the fight for it could have cost him dearly.

At 193cm tall, Mr Irving reckons he was saved by his size but as he got to his feet “one guy had picked up a breeze block ready to drop it on my head’’. By then he was scared and managed to flee.

The incident happened 30m from a police tent parked by the Bali bombing monument. Two police were asleep in the tent.

“When I told them what happened, they could not care less,” he said. “Only when I took the registration number of their bike and threatened to tell their superior they were not helping did they do anything.’’

Mr Irving, manager of a beachclub, has posted the incident on the Bali Crime Reports forum amid mounting traffic from desperate expats.

“This week my flatmate had her bag stolen from her while on a bike,’’ Mr Irving writes.

“For those people saying useless platitudes like ‘crime happens everywhere’ ... get real. This is a growing problem. Crime … happens a lot here and a lot more than it used to. The police do not give one shit about it, they care more about extorting bribes from tourists without helmets.’’

Gold Coast expats Marisa and Steven Fitzroy, too, are casualties. Ms Fitzroy, 53, is suffering shoulder pain two weeks after being flung from the motor bike her husband was riding. Returning to their Canggu home after dinner, Mr Fitzroy, 59, slowed to allow another bike to overtake. Instead, two Indonesians sidled up, ramming the couple’s bike.

Ms Fitzroy was clutching a small purse. Her arm was wrenched and her purse containing house keys and a mobile phone was snatched.

“Then they sped off,’’ she said. “I was ‘Oh my God’ — I lay there and cried. I could see Steven on the ground and the bike was still running.’’

Mr Fitzroy — who takes blood thinners for a heart condition — was covered in blood and suffering deep gravel cuts.

“They don’t know if you’re dead on the ground,” he said. “We were both in shock, it happened so quickly.’’

Last month, Italian woman Valeria Avallone, a Bali resident was hospitalised and comatose for a month after a motor bike robbery. She may not recover from head injuries, according to Sanglah Hospital staff.