Manhunt continues after Australians gunned down in Bali villa

Crime scene officers recovered 17 bullet casings from the villa, Ariasandy said, but no guns or drugs.

Radmanovic’s wife, Jazmyn Gourdeas, who was also in the three-bedroom villa during the attack, told police she “did not recognise the men”.

Gourdeas said she had fallen asleep about midnight in the locked villa before being woken by gunfire and her husband’s screams.

Local media reported that Gourdeas covered her eyes with a blanket before peeking, and described the two attackers as wearing bright orange jackets and dark black helmets. Another woman staying at the villa with Ghanim reportedly heard loud bangs and saw the masked men fleeing.

Radmanovic and Ghanim had been staying at the villa in Bali for a couple of months with their partners and one other person. But police said the group had so far been uncooperative with detectives as Ghanim recovered. He was released from hospital on Sunday, seen being pushed out in a wheelchair with his leg heavily bandaged.

Ariasandy said police suspected the gunmen were Australians and that Radmanovic, rather than Ghanim, was likely to have been the main target considering the injuries inflicted.

“Based on the wounds of the dead victim, two shots to the left chest, they wanted him dead,” he said.

“Until we can ask [Ghamin] questions, we cannot verify the situation yet. It’s an ongoing investigation.”

Ariasandy said Indonesian police could not seek assistance from the Australian Federal Police until they confirmed the identities of the perpetrators.

When that request is made, it will trigger a tightly controlled process in Australia, governed by long-standing federal police guidelines on crimes that carry the death penalty.

An AFP spokesperson told this masthead that the case was automatically deemed “sensitive” because premeditated murder carries the death penalty in Indonesia.

Any co-operation requires oversight from a special “Sensitive Investigations Oversight Board” and must be personally approved by an AFP deputy commissioner. The decision requires them to weigh the seriousness of the crime against the likelihood of a death sentence being imposed.

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Crucially, if an arrest is made, the AFP would require direct approval from the minister of home affairs before sharing information with Indonesian authorities.

“The AFP has not received a formal request for assistance in this matter,” a spokesman confirmed Monday evening.

Gun crime is rare in Indonesia, and police said they were investigating where the weapons had come from.

“We are still investigating. Is it an assembled gun, organic, or hybrid? We don’t know yet,” Ariasandy said. “Investigators are still investigating the projectiles, and there will be ballistics tests as well.”

“Assembled” means crudely made local guns, “organic” refers to guns assigned to police and army officers, and “hybrid” means a modified gun.

More than a decade ago in Melbourne, Ghanim pleaded guilty to reckless conduct endangering life when he encouraged a friend to fire a sawn-off shotgun at a man on a street following a dispute between the pair regarding a woman.

The man shot that day in 2014 suffered 22 separate puncture wounds to his head, face, neck and abdomen, and some shotgun pellets were unable to be removed. Ghanim also pleaded guilty to growing 10 cannabis plants police found at his house in Lalor.

While on bail for that incident, Ghanim also scuffled with a Melbourne mechanic in October 2015 and fired a bullet that grazed the mechanic’s head. Ghanim pleaded guilty to reckless conduct endangering life, firearms charges and aggravated burglary over the incident.

He was sentenced to two years and 10 months’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 17 months, for the shotgun incident and drugs.

with Rachael Dexter

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