Victim’s family looks on as Bali police reconstruction has suspects acting out murder of retired cop bludgeoned to death by motorcycle helmet

A crime reconstruction on Wednesday, outlining the murder of a retired Bali cop got quite heated as the victim’s family looked on.

Suspects in the killing of I Made Suanda, former East Denpasar Police sub-inspector, were made to act out police’s understanding of events, based on their investigation of the December 2017 murder.

Crime reenactments are routine in Bali to help police understand suspects’ roles, for more complex cases.

Family members of Suanda witnessed the reconstruction process and understandably had a hard time watching—one family member, the victim’s son-in-law, even tried to hit the chief suspect, Gede Nugrah Astika aka Sandi according to Tribun Bali. But Sabhara officers prevented a fight from breaking out and restrained the son-in-law. 

Along with Sandi were three other accomplices: Dewa Made Budianta, Dewa Putu Alit Sudiasa, and Putu Very Permadi.

The reconstruction, lead by Denpasar Police’s Criminal Investigation Unit (Kasatreskrim), was held at two different crime scenes: first at a house in Ubung Kaja Denpasar, where Suanda’s body was found on Dec. 20 in a pool of blood, and second, at a car sales place in Padangsambian, Denpasar.

“There were 43 scenes and in scene 21, the suspect Gede Ngurah Astika hit the victim in the face and the victim’s head hit the wall,” said Aris Purwanto, Kasatreskrim Denpasar chief.

Police suspect that the 58-year-old retired cop was murdered after a car-buying transaction went bad. Suanda had disappeared after he was meant to sell a Honda Jazz.

Astika had bargained with the victim to buy the Honda Jazz for IDR185million (US$13,850).

Astika asked Suanda to wait, saying his wife was taking money from the bank.

“Waiting for an hour and a half and he didn’t come. The victim finally got angry and so the suspect finally got angry too and hit the victim, until the victim’s head hit the wall,” Purwanto explained.

In scene 23 in police’s version of events, Astika strangled the victim’s neck with his right hand. Then holding his head, he repeatedly banged the victim’s head on the floor.

The victim tried to fight back by biting, but Permadi, who was present at the house with the other alleged co-conspirators stepped in to help Astika.

While the co-conspirators restrained the victim, Astika finally beat Suanda to death using a helmet.

After Suanda was killed, the suspects sold the Honda Jazz for IDR154 million (US$11,527) to Yoyo Halim, a man who did not allegedly know anything about the murder.

“In the final scene, Astika phoned another suspect to be picked up at Halim’s house. The four suspects headed together to Tabanan and to split the car sales money,” explained Purwanto.