Perth teenager Jamie Murphy has been released from police custody in Bali, after the bag of white powder found on his person turned out to be paracetamol.
He left the police station in near-silence with his lawyer, only giving the swarming media outside the building a succinct ‘yep’ when asked if he was happy to be getting out.
And he’s out. pic.twitter.com/lL3bjRgY4o
— Adam Harvey (@adharves) November 23, 2016
Bali police chief Sugeng Priyanto has confirmed that blood and urine tests had both come back negative for drugs, and testing on the powder itself showed that it was nowhere near a narcotic.
Kuta police chief Wayan Sumara told press:
“[It] was a mixed of acetaminophen (pain killer), two type of cough medicine, and caffeine.”
Priyanto said that Murphy would be immediately released if tests came back negative: “If negative, it means no crime happened.”
Murphy‘s lawyer, Made Suarjana from the Vidhi Law Office, said that Murphy was “very happy” to hear the news.
“He is very happy [to hear test results are negative], because that’s the truth, he was never in possession of such thing [narcotics].”
He told waiting media that Murphy had never purchased the bag of white powder, and it appeared “like magic” when he was stopped at the Sky Garden nightclub in Kuta.
“Suddenly the item was just there, when he was searched by the security.Because he was in a panic, he can’t remember the incident in whole.He never said anything about buying it from a local man.” (Police had previously said that Murphy admitted to purchasing the baggie from a local.)
Since Murphy’s arrest, a reasonably large group of people have come together to prove that Murphy was “set up” by the bouncers. They claimed that the original footage showed the bouncer placing the bag of powder into Murphy’s bumbag. This has not been addressed by police.
Another of Murphy‘s lawyers, Desi Widyantari, said that the teenager was not fully alert during the search due to consuming alcohol, using Indonesian term ‘setengah sadar’ (drunk, half-conscious) to describe him.
“The item … was just suddenly there, he wasn’t fully aware [of the incident]. Hopefully the problem can be resolved quickly.”
The Sky Garden nightclub has also apologised for the manhandling and mistreatment of the 18-year-old, saying “excessive force” was used and promising to have the bouncer in question retrained.
Bali Sky Garden nightclub apologises for rough handling of Jamie Murphy, says guard will be taken off duties and retrained
— Adam Harvey (@adharves) November 23, 2016
New statement for SkyGarden Kuta re #JamieMurphy incident and security guard training @9NewsAUS pic.twitter.com/UerfNHOnuJ
— Oliver Peterson (@oliverpeterson) November 23, 2016
Murphy will now reportedly return home to Perth as soon as possible with his parents, who arrived in Bali yesterday.
Jamie Murphy’s lawyer says the teenager will now leave Bali as soon as possible – most likely tomorrow
— Adam Harvey (@adharves) November 23, 2016
Source: ABC (Adam Harvey) / SMH.
Photo: 9 News.
