The Danish man who was reported by his ex-wife to the police last week for allegedly damaging a shrine said he was actually taking it down and replacing it with another statue “to take away bad spirit from the house,” after a video of him kicking the shrine went viral on social media.
The man, identified as LC by the police, was reported by his ex-wife, identified as Ni Luh Sukerasih, for allegedly damaging the shrines at her house in Buleleng regency last week.
I Gede Sumarjaya, spokesman from Buleleng Police, confirmed to Coconuts Bali today that authorities are still looking into the case and are in the process of questioning witnesses.
Sukerasih, who was not at home when the alleged incident happened, was informed about it by her neighbor, who took a half-minute video recording of Christensen kicking a shrine. She told Tribun-Bali last week that she filed a police report because she couldn’t accept the damage done to the shrine.
“Even when I am on my period, I will try to stay away from the pelinggih [shrine]. How could he have kicked it repeatedly until it fell? With his feet? I reported him so that this type of incident would not happen again,” Sukerasih said then.
Pelinggih is considered sacred by Balinese Hindus, and it is the place where they would place their offerings to the gods.
After a video of LC kicking the shrine went viral last week, the Dane is now saying that the whole thing was a misunderstanding. Despite Sukerasih’s claims, LC said on Facebook that he was actually replacing the shrine with a newer one.
“Making ‘Jro Gede’ statue to take away bad spirit from house. Hopefully a potential foreclosure will work now,” LC said on Facebook, in a post featuring photos of the new shrine.
As reported by Kompas.com, LC is actually the buyer of the house where the shrine was located, though home ownership was reportedly under Sukerasih’s name.
Sumarjaya also explained that LC was taking down the shrine on the day that the incident allegedly happened, but had “fixed up” everything the next day.
Responding to Coconuts Bali via email, LC said he replaced the pelinggih after noticing it was broken at the top and having asked advice from holy men in the area. He added that a ceremony was held yesterday to cleanse the location.
LC also filed a police report on Monday against the neighbor who took the video of him kicking the pelinggih, and another one against Sukerasih, who he said fabricated marriage and religious documents involving the Dane.
“Ni Luh Sukerasih was never my wife inside Indonesia,” LC said in the email.
NOTE: This story has been updated to include comments from LC.
