Kiwi surfer's death in Bali confirmed as murder

Jordan Lucas. Photo / Supplied

An Indonesian forensic expert has confirmed that a New Zealander found dead in Bali had been murdered.

The body of tourist Jordan Lucas, 25, was found last week at the popular surf beach of Uluwatu. Dudut Rustiyadi, head of the Bali hospital where the Waikato man's body was examined, said an autopsy indicated foul play as the man's head had been crushed.

Family members arrived in Bali yesterday. This week a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said the family was being provided with consular assistance.

Police had believed Mr Lucas, found semi-naked, was the victim of a murder.

A relative of Mr Lucas in Bali said: "He was a lovely kid, a lovely boy who just loved Bali. He was here for four months, just surfing. It's just a terrible thing. His parents are terribly distraught."

Julie and Graham Lucas arrived in Bali yesterday where they will formally identify the body.

His former girlfriend told the Bay of Plenty Times he was a generous, mellow man, and she was shocked by the brutal circumstances surrounding his death.

Talia Marshall, 28, who works as a solicitor in Mount Maunganui, said she had a four-year teenage romance with Mr Lucas and said she last spoke to him when he telephoned her via the internet on her birthday in May. At that time he was in Lombok, near Bali.

"He's just a guy who got on with everyone and never got in any trouble," she said.

Miss Marshall described Mr Lucas as "a real cruiser", generous, quiet and non-confrontational, saying his death was likely to be "a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time".

She said he had just built his own home on his parents' Waikato farm and loved to travel the world snowboarding and surfing, and raved about his trips to Bali.

NZPA