Bali: Prosecutors have requested that David Taylor, the boyfriend of Byron Bay woman Sara Connor, be sentenced to eight years' jail for the fatal group assault of a Balinese police officer on Kuta beach last year.
Although judges can choose to impose a greater or lesser sentence they generally agree with the charge requested by the prosecutors.
Prosecutors asked the judges to find the defendant convincingly guilty of fatal group assault, which carries a maximum penalty of 12 years' jail. However they requested he only serve eight years minus time already served.
Mr Taylor, a 34-year-old British DJ also known as DJ Nutzo, confessed to bashing Bali police officer Wayan Sudarsa with a large Bintang beer bottle – which smashed when he struck the victim on the back of the head – binoculars, a mobile phone and his bare fists.
However he insisted he acted in self defence after Mr Sudarsa "threatened his life".
Prosecutors said mitigating circumstances were that Mr Taylor had never been convicted, felt remorse, had apologised to the victim's family and was honest before the court.
Aggravating factors were his actions had cost the victim his life and caused uneasiness in the community.
Prosecutor Agung Jayalantara said outside court Mr Taylor had no intention to kill and was only involved in a fight.
"The victim was still alive when he left and he died later from swelling of the brain. We believe therefore the appropriate article to charge him with is group attack leading to death."
One of Mr Taylor's lawyers, Haposan Sihombing, said it was "more gentlemanly" to admit the scuffle happened instead of asking to be freed. "It was committed by more than my client," he said.
He said he would ask the judges for leniency because Mr Taylor was young and had no intention to kill.
Both Mr Taylor and Ms Connor face the same three alternative charges - murder, fatal group assault or assault leading to death - but are being tried separately. The charges carry maximum sentences of 15 years', 12 years' and seven years' jail respectively.
He appeared relaxed when he arrived at Denpasar District Court, smiling and chatting with his parents from his holding cell.
His lawyer, Erick Sihombing, said prior to the trial starting that Mr Taylor had been prepared for a maximum of 12 years' jail - for fatal group assault - because his legal team believed it had been proven there was no intent to kill.
"Of course he is tense, he is in prison, who wouldn't be?"
The trial, which began in the Denpasar District Court on November 9 last year, has heard that Mr Taylor visited Bali in August last year in the hope of a romantic holiday with his girlfriend of just four months.
He had left Australia in a hurry after his wife, with whom he was separated, "had gone behind his back" and informed immigration of his newly single status. Mr Taylor had hoped to return to Australia on a new visa.
However the romantic sojourn began to unravel late at night on a Bali beach when Ms Connor, 46, discovered her handbag had gone missing while the couple had been kissing near the water.
Mr Taylor believed the bag had been stolen. He approached Mr Sudarsa, a Balinese police officer of 35 years, but believed him to be a bogus cop when he allegedly laughed after Mr Taylor asked him for assistance.
Mr Taylor admitted to "searching his body" but said Mr Sudarsa then pushed him to the ground and punched him. At one point, he testified, Mr Sudarsa's arm was on his throat.
"I couldn't breathe. I was afraid I was going to die. I never experienced it before - I was really scared," Mr Taylor told a court hearing last month.
Mr Sudarsa's bloodied corpse was found near Ms Connor's identity cards on August 17, with 42 wounds to his body. However Mr Taylor insists that he had still been breathing when he last checked the body.
A forensic doctor testified that Mr Sudarsa may have lived if he had received medical treatment in the two hours before he died.
Mr Taylor said outside the court on February 1 it made him feel "extremely sad" and a "little bit angry" witnesses claimed to have seen Mr Sudarsa on the beach but did nothing to help him.
Ms Connor, who owned a fresh pasta business in Byron Bay and is the mother of two young boys, has denied she had anything to do with the police officer's death. She says her only involvement was to try to separate the two men when they were fighting in the sand.
The couple told the court they had tried to go to police station but an ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver refused to take them. Instead, they bought cigarettes and returned to their homestay in Kuta, Kubu Kauh Inn.
They showered and then Ms Connor cut up Mr Sudarsa's identity cards, which were in the wallet Mr Taylor had taken from the victim. Cutting up the cards was Ms Connor's idea, Mr Taylor revealed, but both insisted it was to protect the victim from identity theft.
The couple checked out of Kubu Kauh Inn at 7am on August 17 and travelled to Jimbaran, which was "a much nicer area than Kuta".
They claimed they only learned the victim had died when Ms Connor was contacted by a friend on August 19, who said her name was all over the news after her identity cards had been found at the crime scene.
"I didn't feel guilty until I learnt the full consequence of the fight which was two days later," Mr Taylor said earlier this month.
The couple were in tears and "desperate" after learning of Mr Sudarsa's death and Mr Taylor burnt the clothes they had been wearing the night of the fight.
They then went to the Australian consulate in Bali and were later apprehended by police.
Mr Taylor's father, John, a retired Baptist minister, his mother Elizabeth and brother Peter, have regularly attended the trial but did not address the court.
However Joe Willem Dawson, a friend of 20 years, described Mr Taylor as an "honest and gentle man".
