Sara Connor, the Australian woman on trial over the murder of a Bali cop, testified in Denpasar District Court on Wednesday, the last piece of evidence to be heard in her murder trial.
Connor has said that it was her boyfriend’s idea to burn the clothes that they had been wearing but her idea to throw the officer’s identification cards away.
Connor and Briton David Taylor are being tried separately on three charges of murder, torture and assault leading to the death of policeman Wayan Sudarsa, whose body was found brutally beaten on Kuta Beach, early on August 17, 2016.
“(Taylor) mentioned burn the clothes and I said, ‘Let’s just chuck them away I want to go to the consulate’,” Connor told Denpasar Court on Tuesday, as quoted by AAP.
“He wanted to burn it. I didn’t complain. I was so sad that someone had just lost his life.”
Taylor claims to regret their decision to burn the clothes, calling it a “foolish mistake.”
“I was thinking I was in foreign country. I was panicking and desperate,” Taylor said.
Taylor and Connor have each testified that they did not realize Sudarsa was dead when they left him lying on Kuta Beach that fateful night. The Briton said he left Sudarsa “passed out” after their altercation over Connor’s lost purse, where Taylor struck him on the head with a beer bottle and a pair of binoculars.
“When I finally got out (from underneath Sudarsa), I was so afraid and so I just ran away,” Taylor said, adding that he went back to check on the man and found him still breathing.
Connor has said that at that point, she had already left to search for her bag again after she alleges that the cop bit her and pulled her hair when she tried to separate the men.
That night, Taylor took Sudara’s identification cards, which both he and Connor destroyed when they got back to their hotel.
“I didn’t know anything that serious has happened. The only thing I wanted to do was protect his identity. I didn’t have the need to conceal evidence,” Connor said in court, explaining that it was her idea to throw the cards away.
Connor says had she known there had been a crime, she would have done a better job covering it up.
“I didn’t have a need to destroy evidence. If I did, I would have done a better job. I would have destroyed the wallet. I didn’t touch the wallet or the SIM card,” ABC Australia quoted Connor as saying.
Earlier this month, Taylor said he was “angry” that “witnesses” didn’t step in and help Sudarsa, after learning that Sudarsa may have survived had he received immediate medical assistance.
When given the opportunity to speak towards the family after the final evidence, both Taylor and Connor appeared to express remorse.
Taylor said: ”My sincerest, deepest apologies from the bottom of my heart. I never intended to cause this sort of harm to anyone.”
And Connor: “I feel really sad for their loss. I’ve been praying for them ever since I got to know that this happened.”
Prosecutors are expected to outline their recommended sentences next week.
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