Update:
Sara Connor has had her prison sentence increased by one year after Bali’s High Court deemed the initial sentence of four years too lenient.
Now the mum-of-two from Byron Bay will spend a total of five years in jail over her role in the death of local policeman, Wayan Sudarsa.
Sudarsa died from multiple wounds after fighting with Connor’s British boyfriend David Taylor on Kuta Beach in August 2016. Taylor had confronted the policeman over Connor’s lost purse on the beach, which contained about $300AUD.
Handing out the new ruling, Judge Sudharmawatiningsih said Connor didn’t make “any effort” to help Sudarsa following the altercation.
“The defendant left behind the victim and did not make any effort to help the victim even though she knew the victim was still laying facing down. The defendant has also injured Indonesia’s tourism image, especially Bali’s tourism image.”
46-year-old Connor maintains she did nothing but try to separate the pair but the court heard in March she effectively pinned Sudarsa down.
The initial trial also heard that it took hours for the policeman to die and had someone intervened, he could have survived.
Earlier:
Sara Connor has been sentenced to four years in a Balinese jail for her alleged involvement in the death of a Kuta policeman.
Wayan Sudarsa’s body was found on the beach with 42 wounds, before Connor and her British boyfriend, David Taylor, were arrested over the attack.
Taylor was sentenced to six years for beating Mr Sudarsa to death by a panel of three judges in Denpasar District Court.
The pair were found guilty of fatal assault in company because Mr Sudarsa died from a brain haemorrhage as a result of not being treated as opposed to his wounds acquired that night.
The judges rejected Connor’s defense that she was trying to break up the fight, which her boyfriend also testified too, but said she was instead making him more vulnerable to Taylor’s attack.
‘The defendant’s action was not intended to separate [them] but to help David Taylor so that the victim could not fight back,’ they said.
They also disputed Connor’s claim that she cut up the policeman’s ID cards so that he would not have his identity stolen, saying her behaviour was prompted out of panic and guilt.
Taylor accepted his sentence of six years, of which he has five and a half left after time served, and thanked the judges.
Connor, on the other hand, is still reportedly considering an appeal to her sentence and prosecutors, who asked for eight years from both defendants, have seven days to launch an appeal.
Some are surprised by the leniency of the sentence, especially in comparison to the fate of the Bali 9 and Schapelle Corby.
Tim Lindsey, the director of Melbourne Law School’s Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society, told news.com.au that it would be ill-advised for Connor to appeal.
“She’s killed a cop, she should do her time,” he said.
“She would be making a big mistake to appeal. I think it would be very unlikely she would walk away.
“The prosecutors may appeal, since they got half of what they asked for, and it’s very, very likely to result in a more severe sentence.”
Connor’s lawyer had previously said the mum of two would be freed so the sentencing request of eight years came as a shock to Connor who is the sole carer of her two sons in Byron Bay.
Ms Connor told the court she tried to go to the police station after the fight but the ojek (motorcycle taxi) had refused to take her because she had no money.
“How different my life would have been now if my bag was never stolen and the taxi driver had taken me to the police station that night,” Ms Connor mused. “I had good intentions.”
