Bali Police Have Not Located Man Who Attacked Tourist On Beach

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Bali Police have confirmed to the press that they are yet to track down the man who attacked British tourists in Canggu last Wednesday night.

The attacker is said to have hit the young woman over the head, and there is not believed to have been any prior contact or altercation between the attacker and the victim. 

Police have told reporters that a British tourist with the intra EMT was attacked on Kayu Putih Beach in Canggu on Wednesday evening.

The police report and video footage that went viral online show that the young woman was attacked from behind and hit over the head with what is believed to be a wooden block; she sustained head injuries. 

Not only was the EMT violently attacked, but she was subsequently robbed of her camera, reportedly worth IDR 31,000,000.

However, police have revealed that they are still working on locating the man in question. CCTV footage from the broader surrounding area has been reviewed but is limited at the site of the attack, and no viable leads have been found. 

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Speaking to reporters, the Head of Public Relations of the Badung Police, Ipda I Putu Sukarma, said, “The perpetrator is still being investigated by the North Kuta Police. This is considering that no CCTV was found at the location, and that is a problem.”

He added, “The victim doesn’t remember much or even recognize the perpetrator’s face, whether foreign or local. However, we have examined witnesses who point to the perpetrator.”

Sukarma explained, “The victim’s missing item was a black Canon G7X camera. The loss was approximately IDR 31 million.”

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Sukarma has confirmed the order of events leading up to the attack in the hopes that members of the public may have further information to share.

He confirmed that the EMT was walking in the Canggu Beach area from Batu Bolong towards Kayu Putih on Wednesday, 26th June. The pair were attacked from behind at around 7.30 pm. 

Sukarama said, “Luckily, the wound was not vital. It was a small wound on the back of the head caused by a blunt object, but there was a lot of blood coming out. Medical treatment has been received.”

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As shocking as this case sounds, it is not the first of its kind. As more people are coming forward about incidents of attacks or attempted attacks, anecdotal evidence is growing that shows that the atmosphere towards tourists in Bali has changed over the last 6-12 months.

Bali-based community forums online are sharing more and more stories, posted anonymously, of incidents where tourists have been attacked, near-attacked or threatened on the island, specifically in busy tourism resorts.

This is something that the police are aware of, and they have decided to increase Blue Light Patrols in areas like Canggu.

North Kuta Police Chief AKP Muhammad Disky Fernandez has spoken to reporters that he and his teams will be running Blue Light Patrol operations on Saturday nights for the foreseeable future, but many people feel that these kinds of patrols need to be a high occurrence since there is little evidence that the weekend evenings are more risky than weekdays at this moment in time. 

AKP Fernandez told reporters, “We are anticipating disruption to public security and order by increasing the implementation of Blue Light Patrols until the early hours of the morning. We want to ensure that there are no criminal acts that could disturb the comfort of the community in the jurisdiction of the North Kuta Police.”

While there has been an increase in the number of reports of foreigners behaving badly in Bali and disrespecting local culture, some long-stay tourists and regular Bali tourists have noted that there is a sense of increasing animosity towards foreigners. 

With leaders such as Andry Wibowo from the Ministry of Political, Legal, and Security Affairs suggesting that there is a ‘pathology of criminality’ amongst some foreigners who visit Bali, there are concerns that this climate of animosity between certain groups of foreigners and locals could be growing.