Australian and Briton jailed for killing Bali policeman

Officer attacked on suspicion of theft

DENPASAR, INDONESIA // An Australian woman and her British DJ boyfriend were jailed yesterday over the killing of a policeman who was beaten to death on a beach on the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

Sara Connor and David Taylor were convicted of the fatal group assault of officer Wayan Sudarsa, whose body was found in the tourist area of Kuta in August.

Connor, 46, was jailed for four years and Taylor, 34, was sentenced to six years.

Traffic policeman Sudarsa’s body was found covered with dozens of wounds to his neck, chest and head. Taylor, whose stage name is DJ Nutzo, admitted getting into a fight with Sudarsa on the beach after accusing the officer of stealing Connor’s handbag, and hitting him with items including binoculars and a beer bottle.

Taylor claimed that he acted in self defence during the latenight brawl. He said he did not intend to kill the officer.

Connor, a mother of two, had maintained her innocence, insisting she intervened only to try to break up the fight, but this was rejected by the judges who said she held down the victim as Taylor beat him. “The defendant’s actions meant the victim could not get up and move his body to resist,” said Wayan Sukanila, one of the judges ruling on Connor’s case.

Chief judge Made Pasek handed down the verdict and sentence in the Australian woman’s case, saying she had been “legally and convincingly proven guilty” of group assault causing death.

The verdict in Taylor’s case was handed down at a separate hearing shortly before.

Their sentences were shorter than the eight years that each had been recommended by prosecutors.

The couple fled the scene after the savage attack but Connor’s driving licence and ATM card were found next to the body. Connor destroyed the policeman’s identity cards and the couple also burnt the clothes they had been wearing on the night of the attack.

After police launched a manhunt for them, they took refuge in the Australian consulate in Bali but soon handed themselves over to authorities.

The couple, who are based in Australia and had been on holiday on Bali, had been accused of murder as well as two lesser charges.

But prosecutors said the pair should not be convicted of murder, recognising that they had not intended to kill the officer.