The Australian teen arrested at a popular Bali nightclub earlier this week for alleged drug possession has been released from police custody, free of charges, and is expected to go home soon.
Perth teen Jamie Murphy was arrested at Kuta’s Skygarden on Tuesday when club security allegedly found white powder in his bumbag. Police previously told the media that they suspected the powder was cocaine or heroin.
But forensic lab testing ultimately revealed the powder to not be drugs, while the 18-year-old’s blood and urine tests also came back negative for drugs, police announced yesterday.
The powder actually contained at least four materials, including caffeine and painkillers, according to the head of the police forensics lab in Denpasar, Koesnadi.
And to top it all off, now the Kuta police chief is saying Murphy wasn’t seeking out drugs when he bought the powder on the street and that he actually was after “medicine.”
Kuta Police Chief Wayan Sumara told media that Murphy “got (the powder) in the street … someone give him”.
“He doesn’t know is this drug or not but according to the man who give in the street ‘you can try this medicine, is better for your life,’” Sumara said, as quoted by News Corp Australia.
Meanwhile, Skygarden, the nightclub were the teen was arrested, has apologized for using “excessive force” on the Perth teen and will subject the guard to further security training.
Footage of the arrest shows a guard gripping Murphy’s head and by the expression on the teen’s face, it looks downright painful.
Skygarden explained that the guard had been “ordered” to hold up Murphy’s face so police could take photos, but said “we feel he used too much ‘excessive force’ which is clearly unacceptable under the circumstances.”
The club’s statement from Skygarden management also said they would like to “extend a sincere apology to Jamie, his family and friends. Our company procedure is to hand over suspects peacefully to police if we feel they’ve committed a crime at Sky Garden.”
“We have reprimanded the security in question and he will not be permitted to come back to work until he has completed and passed another round of police security training.”
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