no box as good as a safety box?

Bali Daily,Monday, July 01 2013.


Twelve foreigners had their valuables and passports stolen from safe deposit boxes at a hotel in Legian recently.

John Raymond Brennan, speaking to Bali Daily on Friday, said that it was one of the German guests, Thomas Henning, who first found out that his valuables had gone missing from the safe deposit box and alerted the hotel staff.

“We then found out that 11 other guests had also been robbed,” Brennan said.

The victims, seven German, one Scottish and four Australian holidaymakers, were staying at the Legian Beach Bungalows on Jl. Padma.

The 56-year-old Brennan and his wife Brigitte Barsoum, both from Australia, lost thousands of Australian dollars, a camera, their passports and some documents.

Other victims also lost varying amounts of money, cellular phones and other valuables, with an estimated total loss of around Rp 150 million (US$15,115).

The safe deposit boxes are located in a room behind the hotel’s front office.

When Bali Daily visited the hotel, the front office was being staffed by Laras and Putu Kana (both refused to give their real names).

According to Laras, who received the report of the robbery from the hotel guests, the key to the safe deposit room was held by on-duty staff and the door was kept locked.

“Only on-duty staff are allowed to open the room and observe the guests opening their respective boxes with the key they hold,” she said.

Kana was on duty the night of the robbery and said he had been drugged by a foreign man who came to the hotel that night.

“He came to the front office and asked me about rooms,” he said, adding that he was aware that the man had also been there a couple of days before.

After they chatted for a moment, the man said he was hungry and went out, coming back with burgers.

“We ate two burgers together. There was another one left, and he forced me to eat it. I only ate half when suddenly I felt very sleepy.”

He then, as usual when on duty, closed the hotel entrance and locked the other doors.

“The last thing I remember was that man was still sitting alone in the lobby. I put the key on the reception table in front of me and then fell asleep.”

The next morning, on June 13, Laras arrived for work at 7 a.m. and found Kana still asleep. She could not wake him, so he was taken to hospital.

Laras said the thief had also stolen Rp 40 million of the hotel’s cash.

The victims filed a report with the Kuta Police, however two weeks later, the police have yet to identify a suspect.

“We’re still investigating the case,” Kuta Police deputy chief Adj. Comr. Nyoman Gatra said on Friday.

The hotel management has allowed the victims to stay at the hotel without charge until they can get their passports back.

Brennan said the seven German guests and one Australian had left the hotel, but he and his wife, as well as a Scottish woman named Lauren Pauline Shand, and another Australian were still staying at the hotel.

“We don’t have the money to move elsewhere,” he said. “And we’re in the process of getting our passports back.”

They were also reluctant to move away from the hotel, saying: “If we leave the hotel, they might act as if nothing happened and do nothing.”

“All the rooms have a sign advising guests that the hotel takes no responsibility for valuables lost in rooms. Since we lost our valuables in the safety deposit boxes, which are at reception, they should be responsible for this,” Shand said.

“All we ask is the owner talk to us that about their accountability and mediate satisfactory compensation. We are not asking for blood, just the courtesy of discussion,” Brennan said.

In response to the victims’ demand, Laras maintained that the owner had shown good intentions and responsibility over the incident.

“The owner’s son met the victims the day after and allowed them to stay for free until they get their passports back,” she said.

However, she refused to give Bali Daily the names and contact details of the owner or the top management.

The case follows other robbery cases in Bali in the past year. In April 2013, an Australian was robbed and raped at a villa in North Kuta, where she and seven members of her family were vacationing.

In February 2012, police arrested two men believed to be members of two criminal gangs responsible for a string of robberies and purse-snatching incidents targeting foreigners in Kuta and Denpasar.

Meanwhile, after the Aussie rape case this year, Bali Governor Made Mangku Pastika ensured that he would discuss the security issue in Bali with the police to prevent such incidents happening in the future.

He also called on lodging owners to maintain the security. “To consider the guests’ privacy is important, but [maintaining] the security is also important. There should be security guards [to secure the lodgings],” he said as quoted by Kompas.com.



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