Source : the age
A Sydney plumber and two other Australians have been charged with murder in Indonesia over the alleged targeted shooting of two Melbourne men at a luxury villa in Bali on the weekend.
Indonesian authorities said Darcy Francesco Jenson was arrested at Jakarta Airport while trying to flee the country on Monday, while two other men with Australian passports were detained overseas with the help of Interpol.
Sydney man Darcy Jenson has been arrested by Indonesian police over the fatal Bali villa shooting.
The men were returned to the island on Tuesday night, and all three have since been charged with premeditated murder, Bali police chief Daniel Adityajaya said.
The suspects could face the death penalty if found tried and convicted in Indonesia, but Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs would not say if it was providing consular assistance to any of the detained Australian men.
Indonesian detectives said they seized cars, motorbikes, a sledgehammer and a bloodstained shirt as part of their investigation into the fatal ambush on Saturday that left one Melbourne man dead and another, with links to the underworld, seriously injured.
Zivan “Stipe” Radmanovic, 32, was shot dead shortly after midnight on Saturday after two men burst into his rented villa at Villa Casa Santisya in Munggu, in the Badung district.
Indonesian police said Jenson was arrested at Jakarta airport while trying to flee the country.
Also shot and beaten was Sanar Ghanim, 34, the former partner of Danielle Stephens, who is the stepdaughter of slain underworld figure Carl Williams.
Adityajaya told reporters on Wednesday that two of the men were alleged to have carried out the attack while another, “the planner”, waited outside. Detectives said it was likely others were involved, but they were still investigating.
Two getaway cars were used in the attack – the first picked up the alleged attackers before being dumped in Tabanan, a neighbouring district, while a second was used to flee Bali and drive to Jakarta, police said.
The manhunt for the two gunmen had put the holiday island on high alert, and photographs from local press captured Jenson’s dramatic arrest on Monday night.
Sanar Ghanim, 34, after being shot in Bali on Saturday night.Credit: Instagram
The sledgehammer had been bought at a local shop, according to investigators, who were still conducting forensic testing on masks and gloves that had been recovered. Two of the motorbikes seized were used by the alleged attackers during the ambush, they said, while three others seized belonged to the victims.
The Australian Federal Police would not answer questions on whether Indonesia had requested its cooperation since the arrests.
Any such request would trigger a tightly controlled process in Australia, governed by long-standing federal police guidelines on crimes that carry the death penalty, an AFP spokesman said earlier.
Ghanim, a former kick-boxer with known underworld associates, was rushed to hospital after the attack with multiple gunshot wounds, blunt-force trauma injuries and bullets still embedded in his body.
Radmanovic died at the scene, with forensic doctors reporting he was shot in at least four parts of his body – chest, stomach, buttock and palm – while also suffering extensive injuries to his head and foot. On Tuesday, his family arrived at the morgue to authorise a full autopsy.
The attackers were masked and wearing helmets, and at least one had spoken in an Australian accent, complaining his bike wouldn’t start, before both fled the scene, witnesses told police. The men’s voices were also caught by CCTV in the area.
Bali Police Senior Commissioner Ariasandy said authorities believed it was a targeted attack rather than a robbery, as nothing was taken.
Officers recovered 17 bullet casings from the villa, Ariasandy said, but no guns or drugs.
Radmanovic’s wife, Jazmyn Gourdeas, who was also in the three-bedroom villa during the attack, told police she “did not recognise the men”.
Gourdeas said she had fallen asleep in the locked villa before being woken by gunfire and her husband’s screams.
Local media reported that Gourdeas covered her eyes with a blanket before seeing two attackers wearing bright orange jackets and dark black helmets. One shot her husband in the bathroom, she said. Another woman staying at the villa with Ghanim reportedly heard loud bangs and saw the masked men fleeing.
Radmanovic has been described by loved ones as a “kind, hardworking man devoted to his family”, who left behind young children in Australia.
Radmanovic and Ghanim had been staying at the villa in Bali for a couple of months with their partners and one other person. But police said the group had so far been un-cooperative with detectives after Ghanim was released from hospital on Sunday, his leg heavily bandaged.
Ariasandy said Radmanovic, rather than Ghanim, was likely to have been the main target.
“Based on the wounds of the dead victim, two shots to the left chest, they wanted him dead,” he said.
“Until we can ask [Ghamin] questions, we cannot verify the situation yet. It’s an ongoing investigation.”
Police said all victims and witnesses would be required to stay in the country.
Ghanim served jail time more than a decade ago in Melbourne for his involvement in two non-fatal shootings, as well as drug offences.
In the Indonesian legal system, being named a suspect is the equivalent of being charged with a crime. Bali police earlier said they could only ask their Australian counterparts for assistance once suspects had been identified.
On Sunday, an AFP spokesperson said such a case was automatically deemed “sensitive” and any co-operation with Indonesian authorities would require special oversight and approval by the top brass.
If an arrest is made, the AFP would require direct approval from the minister for Home Affairs before sharing information with Indonesian authorities, having to weigh the seriousness of the crime against the likelihood of a death sentence being imposed.
Gun crime is rare in Indonesia, and police said they were investigating where the weapons had come from.
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