Girlfriend of Brit on trial for policeman's murder in Bali makes emotional plea
David Taylor and his Australian girlfriend Sara Connor are accused of beating a police officer to death on a beach in Indonesia.
Wednesday 1 March 2017 09:31, UK
An Australian woman on trial with her British boyfriend for the murder of a police officer in Bali has told a court she fears missing her children growing up if she is jailed.
Prosecutors are seeking eight-year prison terms for Sara Connor and David Taylor, who were arrested last August over the death of traffic police officer Wayan Sudarsa.
The officer's bloodied body was found on the beach outside the Pullman Hotel in the popular tourist area of Kuta.
They are charged with committing violence leading to death, which carries a maximum 12-year prison sentence under Indonesia law.
Weeping, Connor told Denpasar District Court: "If this is what God had planned for my life, to punish me so harshly and deprive my children of their mother, I hope he will give my children the strength to cope."
Connor, 46, said she believed her boyfriend when he told her the assault was not serious.
Taylor, 35, has admitted hitting the Indonesian repeatedly with a mobile phone, binoculars and a broken beer bottle, leaving him face down and unconscious - but said he didn't realise Mr Sudarsa would die.
Connor and Taylor had been drinking beer on the beach in the hours before the incident in the early hours of 17 August 2016.
Taylor got into a fight with Sudarsa, who was on duty, after Connor realised she had lost her handbag and accused him of being a fake police officer and stealing it.
Connor said she never tried to escape, even though she said she could have fled using her Italian passport, which has a different surname.
She told the court: "I deeply regret and I apologise for any mistakes made unknowingly and unintentionally by me but none of my actions caused the death of the victim.
"I feel terribly sorry for all the pain that this situation has created."
She expressed deep condolences and sadness to the victim's family, to the Balinese people, to Indonesia, and to her family, especially her children.
The trial is to resume on Thursday when the prosecution is set to give their response.