Motorbike rental shop owner says he gave the Australian woman water – ‘She held her stomach like she had a stomach ache’

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Sara Connor looked “messy” and “pale” and was clutching her stomach two days after the bloodied body of a Bali police officer was discovered on Kuta beach, the Australian woman’s trial has heard.

A motorbike rental shop owner, Nengah Astika, said he had arrived at his office in Jimbaran, near Kuta, about noon on 19 August to find Connor and her British boyfriend, David Taylor, already there. He said Taylor had dried wounds to his arm, knee and finger.

“[Sara] looked messy, her clothes were not neat, her face was pale and so I gave her some water,” Astika told Connor’s trial on Tuesday. “She held her stomach like she had a stomach ache.”

Bali murder accused Sara Connor says she is in a 'nightmare' Read more

He said Taylor wanted to rent a motorbike for the day. It was the same day prosecutors allege that Connor and Taylor went to Jimbaran and burnt the clothes of Wayan Sudarsa – the Bali police officer the pair are alleged to have killed.

In response to Astika’s comments, Connor said: “I wasn’t sick … I was just scared, and horrified and shocked … I just found out they were looking for me.”

Later that day Gusti Nyoman Suteja, a police officer who was ordered to keep watch of the Australian consulate, spotted Taylor on a motorbike. The Briton was arrested, and Connor came out of the office accompanied by consular officials about half an hour later.

Taylor and Connor face charges of murder, fatal assault in company and assault causing death, with prosecutors alleging they attacked Sudarsa on Kuta beach on the night of 16 August and left his lifeless body in the sand.

Connor continues to declare her innocence, saying she did nothing but try to separate the pair. Her lawyer, Erwin Siregar, has just returned from a fundraising event organised by Connor’s friends in Byron Bay where attendees were asked to donate at least $5 upon entering. Siregar estimates that about 1,000 people attended.

The money, he told reporters, would be used to bring two witnesses – Coleen Bowen and Kim Watson – to Bali to testify at Connor’s trial. The pair were staying at the Pullman hotel, across from Kuta beach and allegedly heard screams in the early hours of the morning.

Siregar said Connor was pleased the event had been held.

“Among those who came to that event, among those thousand people, there were French, there were Italian, there were Spanish, there were also Indonesians. There were many Indonesians attending too.”

Connor’s trial will resume next week.