‘Money the motive’ for Bali murder of Robert Kelvin Ellis

MONEY was the motive for the murder of Robert Kelvin Ellis, Bali police said yesterday.

Police question the Noor Ellis, the wife of Bali murder victim Robert Ellis.

MONEY was the motive for the murder of Robert Kelvin Ellis, Bali police said yesterday as it emerged that the dual British-Australian citizen had extensive business assets on Christmas Island and an interest in an airline.

Ellis’s Javanese wife, Julaikah Noor Aini, was arrested on Tuesday for her husband’s murder. Police said she paid others to execute her husband.

The number of suspects in the case was expanded to eight.

Mr Ellis, 60, was found on Monday morning wrapped in plastic with his throat cut and dumped in a rice paddy ditch in Sedang village, about two hours north of Denpasar. Police said Ms Noor had paid about $15,000 to all of the accused.

“The murder motive is about money,” Bali police spokesman Hery Wiyanto said police said.

An Australian neighbour of Mr Ellis and his wife, who lived at Emerald Villas in Sanur, said Mr Ellis was trying to extricate himself from his wife and had applied for Indonesian citizenship so he could transfer property from her name to his.

Under Indonesian law, foreigners are forbidden from owning property.

The neighbour, Eli, who asked that her surname not be used, said she felt devastated by the murder.

“He was a gentle, kind, lovely man who had a lot of business interests and was enterprising,” she said.

The main murder suspect, Adrianus Ngongo, also known as Aryl, is in police custody along with Mr Ellis’s wife and their two housemaids.

Police say Mr Ellis was killed with a kitchen knife at the ­couple’s house. The body was then driven by his wife and ­Adrianus and dumped in the rice paddy, they said.

Police are still searching for four fugitives named as AR, NT, DN and EJ.

Mr Hery said the maids helped clean up and secure the pet dog so it did not bark during the killing.

Mr Ellis had extensive business interests on Christmas ­Island.

A daughter from his first marriage lives on the island, while his son lives in New Zealand. His two sons from his marriage to Ms Noor live in Perth and are due to arrive in Bali today .

A Christmas Island resident who worked for Mr Ellis’s business associate Ed Turner said “Jakarta Bob” had a partnership in an airline that ran northern flights from Indonesia to the ­island.