Aussie DJ Arrested Over Bali Disco Stabbing
Police in Bali has detained an Australian involved in the brawl at a disco near Kuta Beach that wounded two other Australians last week, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said on Monday.
Julian David Lunt, 28, is the companion of a Balinese, who stabbed Chris Mete, 26, of Melbourne, and slashed Jake Benjamin Whitehead, 21, of Newcastle at the Bounty Discotheque Bali on Friday. The Nine Network identified Lunt, who lives and works as a disc jockey in Indonesia.
Lunt and his companion have been charged with assault and Bali police said he may be jailed for nine years if convicted.
"The two suspects were friends, and we have charged them both with assault ... which carries a maximum penalty of nine years' imprisonment,'' Courier Mail quoted Kuta district police chief Gede Ganefo as telling the Jakarta Globe newspaper.
Mete was stabbed in the stomach and was operated on at the Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar. He is in stable condition.
Whitehead was slashed in the chest and needed 20 stitches. He is now back in NSW.
Bali police said the brawl at the disco bar started at 2 a.m. on Friday after Lunt and his friend spilled the drink of two locals.
Whitehead tried to help one man being beaten up badly by pulling his attacker, according to Channel 9. The attacker then went after him and cut him in the chest and armpit.
The same attacker had apparently stabbed Mete, who was with his wife at the time of the brawl.
In October, former North Melbourne coach Dean Laidley and his family were allegedly bashed by security staff at the same disco bar. Laidley claimed that he and family members were attacked without any provocation. He got hit in the head with a bottle while his son, Kane, suffered a broken jaw.
Three Bounty security guards were later jailed by Bali police over the incident.
The manager of the Bounty claimed that the security staff tried to break off a fight among members of the Laidley family.