Indonesian police officers escort murder suspect David Taylor to an investigator's room at a local police station in Bali. Photo / AP
Indonesian police officers escort murder suspect David Taylor to an investigator's room at a local police station in Bali. Photo / AP
Two days after Balinese police officer Wayan Sudarsa was murdered Australian woman Sara Connor and her British boyfriend, David Taylor, rented a motorbike, telling the owner that Connor's passport was gone and they needed to go to the Australian Consulate.
To get to the motorbike rental shop the couple unwittingly walked past the home of the officer they are now suspected of killing, and the place where they holed up while on the run was only 500m from the dead officer's home and was owned by a distant relative of the dead policeman.
Sara Connor was interrogated by police for six hours yesterday. Photo / AAP
Connor and Taylor spent three days on the run after veteran officer Wayan Sudarsa's battered and bloodied body was found on a Kuta beach in the early hours of August 17.
At about 1pm on the Friday, two days after the murder, the couple rented a motorbike from a rental outlet, paying $6 for the day. Taylor used his own ID in the name David James Taylor.
"They said they wanted to go to the Australian Consulate because the woman's passport was gone," rental outlet worker Nengah Pecut told News Corp Australia. He remembered seeing wounds on Taylor's hands and fingers but did not ask about them.
"The woman repeatedly held her stomach and said her stomach was in pain. She said 'where can I get medicine'. They were told to go to the pharmacy near the rental office but they did not go there," Pecut said.
He said the couple did not appear suspicious as they sat on wooden chairs in the rental office.
Ketut Surpa was also in the shop when the couple rented the bike. "The woman kept looking down. But the man acted as an ordinary tourist. He said that the woman's passport has gone and they needed to go to the Australian Consulate," Surpa said.
He said many locals later remembered seeing the couple around the area, including "enjoying the beach", because of the news about them being wanted by police.
"Everyone remembered them as David had a specific characteristic, the man had dreadlocked hair. So people remembered him well after the arrest," Surpa said.
The crime scene on Kuta Beach. Photo / AAP
And the owners of the home, in Jimbaran, where the couple stayed for two nights after the police officer's death have told of offering them a room for 300,000 rupiah ($31) a night when they inquired on Wednesday evening about somewhere to stay.
"The woman said she was from Australia and the man said he was from England," Ni Luh Sandewi said.
On Thursday morning the family gave them coffee and tea and bread, house owner Wayan Kodil said. He said they displayed "normal behaviour" and did not seem suspicious. They had sat on the balcony in the front of the house, clearly visible from the street.
Mr Kodil said the couple went out each day but he was not sure where.
Connor's lawyer, Robert Khuana, said that on the Wednesday, after the police officer's death earlier that day, the couple went to the beach at Jimbaran for the day and that evening found a new homestay, so checked out of their Kuta hotel and moved to Jimbaran. The next day, Thursday, they spent around Jimbaran again.
Police allege that on Friday morning, after Connor, a mum-of-two from Byron Bay, received a phone call from Australia telling her she was on the news and wanted, the couple burned the bloody clothes they were wearing on the night of the murder. The wallet, cut-up cards and ID of the police officer were found dumped by the road, in a plastic bag.
They then went to the Australian Consulate in Denpasar where police were already stationed to look for them. The couple was arrested late Friday and are now being held in Denpasar police station as suspects on murder, assault and battery charges.
Connor has expressed her remorse and sympathy over the death, saying she wants to help his family and to go home to her own family soon. And she maintains she is innocent.
Connor faced a further six hours of police interrogation, consisting of 45 questions, on Thursday.
Lawyer Erwin Siregar, who was with her, said that at the end police had asked Connor if she had something to say. "In this case I am not guilty, I am innocent because my position in this case was [to] try to separate David and the victim and [I] tried to help the victim," Siregar said she had replied.
"Actually I only broke up the problem. I wanted to help the victim ... When I knew the victim had died I felt very sad. And I am sympathetic to the victim's family. I want to help the victim's family. And I want to be with my family. I am not guilty and I want to go home soon," the lawyer said Connor had told police.
She told police Taylor had told her the victim was not dead but bashed up. She did not know he had died for several days.
"She is very sad because in the end she knows that the victim [has] died."
And Connor has told police that it was Taylor who initiated burning their bloody clothes after the murder and that she was not involved in this.
Connor spoke by telephone to her parents but Siregar said she had not yet spoken to her children.
Taylor's interrogation is ongoing.
A British charity in Bali, Soleman, has set up a crowd-funding campaign to raise money for the officer's widow and their two children. Late yesterday almost $5200 had been raised.
Sudarsa told News Corp Australia that her husband was a kind and caring man who loved his family dearly and the family was shocked at losing him. "He was very caring towards the kids and to me. I pray for my husband. Hopefully he gets a decent place and a good place with God," she said.
