An Australian prisoner who dug his way out, Shawshank Redemption-style, of Bali’s Kerobokan Prison had people scratching their heads when it was revealed that he just had 10 more weeks left to serve on his sentence.
But Shaun Davidson’s motives for jail breaking make a lot more sense when you look at his history back in Oz.
The 33-year-old fled Australia for Bali the same day he was due in Perth Magistrates Court on Jan. 28, 2015 for drug offenses, including possessing methamphetamine and cannabis with the intent to sell or supply.
Davidson had been partying and boxing in Bali for a year before Indonesian immigration ensnared him for using a stolen passport.
It appears Davidson figured he would rather become a fugitive in Indonesia than face the justice system back in Perth in the two months and 15 days left on his one year sentence, after which he was set to be released and deported back to Australia.
Davidson’s escape was apparently not a huge surprise to those that knew him in Kerobokan.
“Davidson had made no secret of his intention to avoid being sent back to Australia,” Fairfax Media quoted an unidentified Kerobokan source as saying.
Accompanying Davidson in his great escape were Bulgarian Dimitar Nikolov Iliev, Indian Sayed Muhammad Said, and Malaysian Tee Kok King, Bali police spokesman Hengky Widjaja said.
The four made it under the prison’s walls through a tunnel dug that was just 50 x 75 centimeters in diameter and around 13 meters long, which was found filled with water on Monday morning, Bali Police spokesman Heng Widjaja told reporters.
The head of Kerobokan Prison said that 10 guards were on duty on Sunday night when the escape is believed to have taken place.
An in-depth report broadcasted by Australia’s ABC earlier this month had just shown how understaffed and overcrowded the Bali prison is, reporting that on average, there are just eight prison guards for 1,300 inmates.
Indonesian Police have launched an all-out search for the four fugitives, even using scuba gear to try and explore the tunnel the prisoners dug, wondering if perhaps the prisoners had gotten stuck and even drowned in their own tunnel.
But heavy rainfall made things unstable, forcing police to use a hose to try and syphon water out–which didn’t quite work, said Badung Police Chief Yudith Satriya Hananta.
“We will try again when the water dries out,” Yudith said.
Police suspect the prisoners may not have even yet left Bali and could have possibly been stuck inside the tunnel.
“That’s why we are drying it out to check. It’s still full with water, we will see when it’s dry.”
A small fork was found inside the tiny tunnel, along with a head lamp flashlight, sandals, and clothes.
“There is the possibility they left Denpasar … we don’t know yet.”
Police have been reviewing CCTV footage of the tunnel, but the footage conveniently did not cover where the tunnel was—which gives police reason to wonder if the tunnel had already existed before the breakout.
There was reportedly no guard on duty in the tower overlooking the spot of the tunnel the night of the escape, because of staff shortages.
Indonesian Police, however, have proved this year that they are more than capable of hunting down fugitives.
A Peruvian fugitive was arrested in Sumatra in May 2017 just a little over a week after his escape from custody in Bali by fleeing through a bathroom window in Denpasar court.
Meanwhile, also in May 2017, four Indonesian narcotics suspects were all tracked down and captured after they fled from a BNN holding cell.
