Image: Jalan Legian, Kuta. Credit: bali2017.blogspot.com
Kuta police arrested an Australian man, Tore Gerard Vincenzo Bempasciuto, 23, after attacking two taxi drivers on Jalan Legian on Tuesday morning. One driver, Saiful Nurokhim, 43, received a bruised mouth and eye and had his cellphone broken on the ground. The second taxi driver, Zainal, 36, was hit while trying to help his colleague.
The Head of Kuta Polsek, First Inspector I Putu Ika Prabawa, stated Wednesday that the case began when the victim was chatting with other drivers parked on Jalan Legian on Tuesday at around 4am. The suspect passed by with his girlfriend and appeared to be angry at that time.
Suddenly the man approached the taxi driver and head butted him without apparent cause. He then seized the driver’s cellphone and left.
“The victim chased the suspect trying to get his cellphone back,” Ika said to balipost.com. The suspect didn’t return the phone, but instead punched the victim in the face causing him to fall to the sidewalk.
“CCTV recordings also showed that the suspect’s girlfriend also beat the victim after he fell on the sidewalk,” he added.
After the suspect saw the victim fall, he slammed the victim’s cellphone to pieces on the ground. The victim’s friend, Zainal, who was trying to help him, was also hit by the suspect in the left temple. After hitting Zainal, the suspect tried to escape but he slipped because the sidewalk was wet.
The man hurriedly got up and ran away as now many friends of the taxi driver were on the scene.
“When we searched the area, we found the suspect and woman were hiding on the 3rd floor of a minimarket warehouse, south of the scene,” Ika concluded.
It is not yet known why the man was angry and attacked the taxi driver. The perpetrator and his female friend have been secured at Kuta Sector Police for further investigation.
10 years in the slammer then deport them NEVER allowed back into Indonesia
Another bule mistreating a lokal I am so sorry
This whole story is Dodgey..
Anyone who has been to Bali on holiday ..will know how dishonest SOME TAXI DRIVERS can be …they wete trying to rip off the tourists No doubt and were caught..
Howevet i do not condone violence by TOURISTS..
I always have a NUMBER for TOURIST POLICE ON MY phone in CASE of rip off attempts by taxi drivers…money changer CROOKED who so many are blayant criminals. etc
People should respect the Balinese people. We visit twice a year and love it. It’s ashame we have disgraceful people who visit and carry on like idiots. Lock them in jail teach then a lesson.
There are a LARGE amount of CROOKED bali ..mainly MONEY CHANGERS….
I’ll wait for the full story, but I must say that there a huge number of unattractive tourists on the Island nowadays.
No excuse for that sort of violence but drivers in these sorts of places are often unregulated and they know all the scams. You are lucky if all they do is overcharge you. And yea, you can’t argue with them or all the other drivers gang up on you.
Deport him from Australia too.
Talking about money changer and violence, my suggestion is go to authorized money changer, price is more reasonable and more secured. Bluebird taxi is more reliable or d/l an application of grabtaxi. At 4 a.m is still some where on the street….are they sober?