Aussie on trial for theft in Bali breaks her silence as she finally reveals the wild reason WHY she fled with a stranger’s laptop from a local deli

EXCLUSIVE 

An Australian teacher charged with stealing two bags in Bali has blamed a case of ‘Bali belly’ for the alleged incident and claimed she never meant to commit theft.

Vanessa Louise Crimmins is accused of stealing backpacks containing a HP laptop and a MacBook Air from outside Popular Deli, a supermarket in North Kuta on October 30. 

She is currently being held in the notorious Kerobokan jail for the alleged offence and if found guilty, could spend up to 5 years in an Indonesian prison. 

Crimmins, 45, told Denpasar District Court on Thursday that she took the bags to secure them as they had been left unguarded. 

She said that she did not give the bags to security because she did not see any security officer and there was no one to ask what to do with them.

‘At the beginning, from afar, I saw that there were two bags on the seat (outside the supermarket) and there was nobody watching them,’ Crimmins said, using a translator. 

‘At that time, I had a problem with my stomach. I had Bali belly. So, I go went home first to the villa.’

She said later on she went back to the supermarket again ‘and the two bags were still on the seat and all the staff were busy’.

Vanessa Louise Crimmins (pictured) is accused of stealing backpacks containing a HP laptop and a MacBook Air from outside Popular Deli, a supermarket in North Kuta on October 30

Crimmins (pictured front left) is currently being held in the notorious Kerobokan jail for the alleged offence and if found guilty, could spend up to 5 years in an Indonesian prison

Crimmins (pictured front left) is currently being held in the notorious Kerobokan jail for the alleged offence and if found guilty, could spend up to 5 years in an Indonesian prison

Crimmins said she then again had a problem with her stomach and went back to the villa after not being able to find a toilet at Popular Deli.

She had been about to hand a backpack over to someone in the supermarket, but had to quickly go back to her accommodation to use the toilet and took the bag with her.  

‘I was actually sick at that time after surgery. I still take medicine (for it),’ she said. 

‘Later on, I back to deli … but I could not find the security. There was no security there.’

She saw that the other bag was still on a seat outside the shop. ‘Then I took it. And got problem with my stomach again, so I went home to my villa and brought the second bag.’

When she went back to the store yet again, she wanted to ask what she should do with the bags, but instead she was held on suspicion of theft.

‘They didn’t speak English. I felt confused and then I felt faint,’ she told the court.

Crimmins was asked if she knew what was in the backpacks she had taken back to her villa. 

Crimmins (pictured right) told Denpasar District Court she was on medication and sick at the time of the alleged incident

Crimmins (pictured right) told Denpasar District Court she was on medication and sick at the time of the alleged incident

‘I didn’t know as I hadn’t open them,’ she replied. ‘I just found out what was in them after I was taken to the police station. I was under influence of medication.’ 

She was then asked why she didn’t bring the bags back to the supermarket.

‘Because I just wanted to ask what should I do with them,’ she answered. 

A prosecutor asked her if she thought it was normal to take the first bag to the villa and then come back and take the second one. 

‘Please understand that I was on medication, I was sick, I have go to the toilet at that time,’ she said. 

‘I brought the bag inside, to ask people, who owns this bag. But later I got a stomach ache (and had to leave). I thought that a tourist had left the bag.’

She was then asked about her motivation. ‘What is your role there? Why did you feel a responsibility to secure (the bags).’

Crimmins said she had an experience in Australia where ‘my bag was stolen, my identity was misused to cheat other people. 

‘So, I don’t want other people to go through the same experience.’

She was then asked if she understands how Indonesian law works.

The teacher replied that ‘I want to apologise. I had no intention to steal (the laptops).

‘My intention was to secure the bags as they were there for quite a long time, 30 minutes.’

Again asked why she did not look for security, rather than taking other people’s property back to her villa, Crimmins said ‘I am sorry for doing it. 

‘I was not well at that time. I really apologise. My intention was only to secure (the bags).’

She has been charged with article 362 of the Criminal Code on theft, which could land her a jail term of up to five years. 

The court previously heard from several witnesses, including the owners of the allegedly stolen laptops, Jakarta man Ardi Nurcahyadi, 42, and Denpasar university student Ni Nyoman Ari Purwaningsih, 24.

The bags were allegedly stolen in a 90-minute period from 7.30am after being left outside the store.

After one of the men alerted the Popular Deli security chief that their bag had been taken, he reviewed CCTV.

The footage allegedly showed Crimmins taking the man’s bag and a second one an hour later outside the shop.

Police alleged that after the arrest, the stolen bags and computers were found during a search of the North Kuta villa where Crimmins was staying.

She was transported back to Bali’s infamous Kerobokan jail after the hearing, where she remains in custody.

Until recently, the prison held two members of the Bali Nine drug smuggling ring.

Si Yi Chen and Matthew Norman served out their sentences at Kerobokan before they returned to Australia earlier this month.

Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran also spent their sentences on Kerobokan’s death row before they were executed in 2015.

It’s also where fellow Aussie Schapelle Corby served the majority of her nine-year jail term after she attempted to smuggle 4.1kg of marijuana in her bodyboard bag through Denpasar Airport in 2004.

Crimmins will appear in court again on Thursday, January 30.

***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk