‘Drunk, naked’: Australian man arrested over violent rampage in Aceh

Save articles for later

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.

A young Australian man has been arrested in Indonesia’s ultra-conservative Aceh province, accused of an alcohol-fuelled, naked rampage outside a beachside resort that left a passer-by in hospital and prompted an angry mob of residents to threaten to burn down the hotel.

Bodhi Mani Risby-Jones, a 23-year-old from Noosa, was detained following the incident in the early hours of Thursday morning on the island of Simeulue, a surfers’ paradise off the coast of Sumatra, and faces as long as five years in prison if convicted.

Bodhi Mani Risby-Jones, 23, from Noosa has been detained over an alleged naked, alcohol-fuelled rampage outside an Aceh resort.Credit: Facebook

Simeulue police chief Senior Commissioner Jatmiko said the Australian had been drinking from a bottle of vodka before emerging without clothes from his room at the Moon Beach Resort after midnight.

“He got out of his room naked. The security man attempted to stop him but got hit at the neck and fell down,” alleged Jatmiko, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

“He then went on to the street and disturbed passers-by. He hit almost everyone who was on the street.”

Risby-Jones is alleged to have then also struck a passing motorcycle rider and thrown the motorcycle onto him after he fell into the gutter.

Bodhi Mani Risby-Jones in a picture from his Facebook page.Credit: Facebook

Enraged at the tourist’s alleged behaviour, and the injuries caused, onlookers tried to set the resort itself ablaze, the police chief said.

“The lower part of [the rider’s] leg was ripped and he got 50 stitches at hospital,” he said, adding that the victim had to be transferred to provincial capital Banda Aceh because of limited health facilities in Simeulue.

“Knowing it, the people got angry and almost put the resort on fire. Luckily, local police and the village head managed to calm down the mob.”

The sale and consumption of alcohol is banned in Aceh, where Sharia law is enforced and public canings still take place for so-called morality offences such as pre-marital sex, adultery and homosexuality. People can be lashed for drinking alcohol.

Risby-Jones is not being investigated under the Islamic law because the report the motorcycle rider’s wife submitted to police was about violence and not alcohol use.

Instead, he is facing a charge under Article 351 of the Indonesian penal code, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in jail for maltreatment resulting in serious physical injury.

However, police said they may still investigate the alcohol aspect and, if so, Sharia law may be applied as well. Three Indonesian men were given 40 strokes of the cane in Banda Aceh in 2021 for drinking alcohol in public, and news outlet Tempo reported another person was sentenced to the same punishment in August.

In practice, there can be flexibility for foreign tourists arriving in the province who drink in private and that was the case with Risby-Jones, according to police.

“The security allowed him [to bring in alcohol] but only one bottle because we are under the Islamic sharia in Aceh,” Jatmiko said.

“The district head issued instructions to ban alcoholic drinks because of the Sharia. So we have the right to check tourists’ luggage at the airport due to the Islamic law.”

Risby-Jones’ response to the allegations is not yet known.

He told police he had come to the island for four days with a male friend to go surfing as part of a three-week trip to Indonesia.

Aceh, which lies at the north-west corner of the archipelago, is referred to as the Verandah of Mecca because it was the entry point of Islam to the archipelago.

While the semi-autonomous region is religiously conservative, it is the only province in Indonesia in which Sharia law is formally in place. Simeulue has long been a draw for surfers, with its uncrowded waves and untouched landscape.

“We have great surfing sites and waterfalls,” the police chief said. “Those who have been here won’t go to Bali any more [to surf]. Here it is clean and quiet.”

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.

Most Viewed in World

From our partners

Source: Read Full Article