Byron Bay mother Sara Connor will be back in court today for the third day of her trial over the killing of Balinese policeman Wayan Sudarsa.
At an appearance last week, lawyers for the accused murderer argued that the case against the Australian woman seemed ‘made up’, and they called on the judges not to ‘sacrifice’ her simply to save face.
The 46-year-old mother from Byron Bay is being tried in the Denpasar District Court over the alleged murder of Wayan Sudarsa, whose bloodied body was discovered on Kuta beach in the early hours of August 17.
Connor and her British boyfriend David Taylor are facing charges of murder, fatal assault in company and assault causing death.
Connor’s legal team – made up of Erwin Siregar, Robert Khuana and Ketut Ngastawa – have urged the judges to dismiss the charges levelled against her.
‘The prosecution has been inaccurate, unclear and incomplete in formulating the indictment,’ they said. The prosecution should have charged her with eliminating evidence or released her, they submitted.
‘Don’t force (yourself) to fulfil specific targets or save face by sacrificing the defendant and sacrificing the law,’ they told the judges.
The indictment, they argued, was not based on the result of the investigation but ‘speculation’ and gave the general impression of being ‘made up’.
They submitted that the prosecution had ‘copied and pasted’ the same allegations when explaining each charge against their client, rather than outlining different actions.
The indictment, they added, also focused on the actions of Taylor, rather than Connor.
Taylor’s trial, which is being held separately to Connor’s, meanwhile heard testimony last week from Denpasar detective Sulhadi.
He said the murder stemmed from Taylor confronting Mr Sudarsa and accusing him of being involved with Connor’s missing purse.
This, he said, ‘insulted’ the traffic cop, and sparked the fight which ended with his death ‘at the hands of two perpetrators’.
Taylor responded to his testimony through an interpreter, saying: ‘I hit the victim’s face with (his binoculars) and later with the (beer) bottle. That was for self-defence’.
‘The one cutting (Mr Sudarsa’s) identity cards was Sara and it was Sara’s idea.’
‘It is not true that I killed (him) it was only self-defence.’
Detective Sulhadi said that during one of the interrogation sessions, held after their arrest in August, Connor ‘confessed’ to hitting Mr Sudarsa, sitting on him and wrapping her arm around him during the fight.
Connor will return to court today (Monday), while Taylor matter will return on Wednesday next week.
