Darcy Francesco Jenson breaks silence over Zivan Radmanovic Bali murder, Sanar Ghanim shooting
A Sydney plumber standing trial over a deadly Bali ambush that killed Zivan Radmanovic and injured Sanar Ghanim has opened up about the shooting. WATCH THE VIDEO
EXCLUSIVE: A Sydney plumber standing trial over a deadly Bali ambush on four holidaying Aussies says he was a patsy.
Darcy Francesco Jenson, 27, who is imprisoned at the infamous Kerobokan jail, has released a statement exclusively to this masthead through his lawyers saying he had no knowledge “something terrible” was about to happen in the lead up to two gunmen shooting dead Zivan Radmanovic and injuring Melbourne underworld figure Sanar Ghanim.
Mr Jenson and alleged gunmen Mevlut Coskun, 22, also from Sydney and Paea-I-Middlemore Tupou, from Melbourne, are charged with murder, premeditated murder and firearms offences.
Another charge of aiding and abetting has been laid against Mr Jenson, who is standing trial separately from his co-accused over the ambush in Munggu, Bali, on June 14.
This charge applies only to Mr Jenson as he is alleged to have aided in the crime rather than directly caused the murder.
While Mr Tupou and Mr Coskun could be sentenced to death if found guilty of premeditated murder, Mr Jenson will face a lesser penalty.
But Mr Jenson has broken his silence to plead ignorance over the brutal execution of Radmanovic and the wounding of Ghanim which also terrified their respective partners sharing the luxury villa with them, sisters Jazmyn and Daniella Gourdeas.
Since his arrest two days after the violence, Mr Jenson says he has co-operated fully with police about the “free holiday” he was offered in exchange for carrying out the orders of an Australian national who communicated with him via encrypted app Threema.
“I did what I was asked to do by someone I knew,” Mr Jenson said.
“At the time, nothing seemed strange or wrong.
“I never imagined that something terrible could happen.
“I have co-operated with the authorities from the very beginning because I want the truth to be clear.”
The orders given to Jenson, who is not accused of being at the crime scene in Munggu, were received over months leading up to the June raid underworld sources say was payback over a dispute between Ghanim and a serious criminal syndicate based in Melbourne.
They included Mr Jenson;
* paying $2750 upfront on April 15 for a room at the Lotus & Teak Villas which was left vacant until the accused gunmen stayed there from June 10 to June 13,
* flying to Thailand on April 16 where he met “someone” to drop off a set of keys to the rented villa, and;
* hiring vehicles and buying equipment, including a sledgehammer, used in the commission of the crime.
Prosecutors have alleged that at the time of the ambush at the villa – known as Casa Santisya 1 – Mr Jenson was waiting in a rented car for the accused gunmen in a “secluded area with bushes” about 20 minutes away.
The private school educated Mr Jenson was allegedly on the phone to his girlfriend in Australia when Mr Tupou and Mr Coskun arrived at the meeting point about 1am before heading for Jakarta’s airport – swapping cars, boarding a bus and staying in multiple hotels during their alleged escape.
Mr Jenson has also explained abandoning a Suzuki rental car near the Bungurasih Bus Terminal in Surabaya as the trio headed for the airport.
“When I left the car with the keys inside, I honestly thought someone from the rental company or the people arranging things would pick it up, otherwise I would never have done that,” he said.
After abandoning the Suzuki, the men caught a bus to Jakarta, staying a night at the five star Pan Pacific Hotel before heading for Soekarno-Hatta Airport.
While Mr Jenson was stopped by immigration officials at an airport checkpoint following his passport being flagged, Mr Tupou and Mr Coskun flew to Singapore then Cambodia before being turned back.
During his time in Bali, Mr Jenson did not disguise his identity, using his passport or driver’s license to book accommodation, rent scooters, cars and a ferry ride.
“The rentals had my photo, my real name, and my phone number,” he states.
“I knew the cars had GPS trackers since they were rental cars, so if anything went wrong, they would have contacted me right away. I wasn’t hiding anything.”
Mr Jenson’s Indonesian lawyers, Jupiter Lalwani and Katharina Nutz, said their client had been “gullible” and “dumb”.
Both lawyers said their client was never at the crime scene and told this masthead they believed in his innocence.
Ms Nutz said the young Australian had denied any prior knowledge of the deadly ambush and he had fallen prey to “helping out a friend” in Australia.
“Darcy feels he was being used. He feels like a scapegoat for a criminal mastermind,” Ms Nutz said.
“His family are 100 per cent supporting him. He has no criminal record. He wasn’t in those kinds of circles.’
“And he never used a fake name.”
Mr Jenson was inconsolable when his family arrived in Bali to see him following his arrest and detention.
Indonesian Police were able to identify Mr Jenson as a suspect after connecting him to the audacious crime through a sledgehammer used to break down the villa’s door.
After tracing the orange hammer to the Sinar Harapan hardware store in Canggu through its barcode, investigators obtained CCTV from nearby streets allegedly showing Mr Jenson riding a rented scooter through Bali with the handle protruding from his Dior backpack.
Although police flagged Mr Jenson with immigration, having identified him through his rented scooter, his co-accused – Mr Tupou and Mr Coskun – boarded a flight to Singapore en route to Cambodia without issue.
Mr Jenson also had a ticket to fly to Cambodia but had a travel agent book him a flight to Sydney, since telling his lawyers he had become suspicious of what was unfolding.
Mr Jenson handed over his passport to immigration officers before being released and he checked into an airport hotel.
It is believed after Mr Jenson checked in to the hotel he also searched the internet on his phone for any reports of incidents in Bali, coming across articles about the midnight ambush two nights earlier.
Mr Jenson also called a lawyer over the immigration issue and subsequently provided his location as Indonesian police moved in to arrest him.
Mr Jenson nor his co-accused have entered a plea.
Although the trio are all being kept in isolation at Kerobokan prison, Mr Jenson has been separated from Mr Coskun and Mr Tupou.
Mr Jenson also is transported to Denpasar District Court for hearings in a separate armoured vehicle.
Although Mr Coskun and Mr Tupou are facing the prospect of the death penalty if found guilty, Indonesia has not carried out an execution since 2016.
All three men are expected to know their fate at the end of December.
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Originally published as Darcy Francesco Jenson breaks silence over Zivan Radmanovic Bali murder, Sanar Ghanim shooting
