Police say an Australian man was killed in a violent altercation with a local man while they were drinking together in South Kuta.
Perth resident Troy Johnston, 40, met up with I Gede Wijaya at a café owned by the suspect early on Thursday morning. Police said Wijaya and Johnston drank arak (traditional liquor) together until the victim became inebriated.
“He peed on my left leg. He was drunk, he had lost control. I tried to tell him to cut it out. But he went inside and threw glass cups at me,” Wijaya told reporters as he was presented in a press conference at the South Kuta Police HQ today.
Wijaya said that Johnston then lifted a barstool with the intention of throwing it at him. Wijaya claims he managed to grab the barstool off of the victim, before fatally bashing him in the head with it.
Johnston’s wife, Ni Nyoman Purnianti, went to the café to look for her husband after he failed to return to their villa that morning.
Police said she found Johnston lifeless on the terrace of the café with a fatal cranial injury.
Police later arrested Wijaya, who may face up to 15 years in prison for murder.
Johnston and Purnianti, along with their small child, reportedly came to Bali for holiday.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the suspect and victim were brothers-in-law. We have made the appropriate changes and we apologize for the error.
finjourn says
Is this UncleBenz up the hill at Belangan? That’s not “south Kuta”. Also how does a 20 (or 24) year-old Balinese man afford to have a bar? Was it funded by Johnston? Either way, an Indonesian wouldn’t attack someone so ferociously unless there was a reason. Or Johnston fell over and hit his head on something.