Son yet to see murder accused mum
Bali police have cited official visiting hours for again preventing a Perth student from visiting his mother, who could face the death penalty for allegedly plotting her husband’s death.
Jon Ellis, 23, a student at Edith Cowan University, is devastated by the loss of his businessman father Robert Ellis, 60, who was brutally killed last week.
Mr Ellis’ body was found in a rice field, bundled in plastic, with his throat slashed, allegedly by his maid’s boyfriend and four other assailants. Jon Ellis and his brother Peter, 19, have been in Bali since Thursday.
• Mum begs son’s forgiveness
• Wife could face death penalty
Police allege their Indonesian mother, Noor Ellis, was angry over marital problems and ordered her husband dead.
She remains in custody, and could be charged with premeditated murder, which can carry the death penalty.
Jon Ellis twice tried to visit his mother this weekend but was hampered by police regulations, Ms Noor’s lawyer Nyoman Wisnu told reporters on Sunday.
“We have tried to arrange a meeting between Noor, Jon and Peter, but they say it can’t be today because it’s not a visiting day,” he said.
“Jon really wants to ask his mother, how can this be? “He was very sad and teary-eyed when he couldn’t meet his mother today.”
Mr Nyoman says Ms Noor meanwhile is desperate to beg her sons’ forgiveness, which could be critical to the courts’ leniency.
“Noor was crying … she really wants to apologise to Jon and Peter,” he said.
Jon Ellis did not comment to reporters at the police station.
Mr Nyoman argues Ms Noor never wanted the man she hired to hurt or kill her husband of 25 years, even though she alleges Mr Ellis starved her of the proceeds of their business interests, and twice denied her a divorce because Indonesian assets were held in her name.
Friends of the couple have reacted with surprise to Ms Noor’s allegations about Mr Ellis’ treatment of her.
Ross Taylor, a close friend of the Ellis family for many years, says Ms Noor ran a successful dive and boat charter business called Blue Fin, in Sanur.
Mr Ellis gave her free rein over that venture and over the family’s busy social life, Mr Taylor says.
“She never indicated to me that she was suffering financial constraints by her husband,” the president of the Perth-based Indonesia Institute said.
“Noor was a very busy person, with mobile phones ringing, meetings to arrange and people to contact.
“She was very well connected and very much ‘in charge’.”