Bali bombing hero police officer is charged indecent assault

Bali bombing ‘hero’ policeman whose ‘arms melted’ as he ran into the burning Sari Club is charged with indecent assault after allegedly ‘grabbing two colleagues’ bottoms’

  • New South Wales senior police officer has been charged with indecent assault 
  • Joel Murchie, 48, has been charged with four counts against two fellow women
  • He was hailed a hero in 2002 when he ran back into Sari Club in Bali after bomb 
  • He is expected to front court on July 8 for a five day trial and has plead not guilty  

Joel Murchie, 48, was charged late last year with the four offences – three of which relate to one junior female officer 

A senior police officer who was hailed a hero in the aftermath of the Bali bombings has been charged with indecent assault.

Joel Murchie, 48, was charged late last year with four offences – three of which relate to one junior female officer. 

Murchie was on duty as commander of the NSW Police’s Mental Health Intervention Team when he allegedly committed the assaults, according the The Sydney Morning Herald.  

In 2002 the officer was labelled a hero after he ran back into the Sari Club in Bali after a bomb exploded when he realised his then girlfriend was still inside. 

He had already escaped the building but went back inside when he could not see his girlfriend. 

He burned his arms as he did so, but she had already escaped the blaze through another exit. 

Murchie is fronting court after he allegedly committed an act of ‘non-consensual grabbing’ on one occasion in November 2016 on a junior female officer. He is also accused of kissing the woman. 

He also allegedly assaulted the woman in 2015 when he kicked her on the bottom and in 2017 when he flicked her on the bottom. 

He is also accused of another act of indecency when he cupped the buttocks of a woman from the New South Wales Ambulance Service he was working with in 2010. 

NSW Police’s internal Professional Standards Command have launched an investigation into his conduct after the allegations about his conduct. 

‘The officer, formerly attached to a specialist unit, was on duty at the time of the alleged incidents,’ read a police media release issued at the time Mr Murchie was charged. 

‘He was charged with two counts each of indecent assault and common assault.’ 

In 2002 the Murchie was labelled a hero after he ran back into the Sari Club in Bali after a bomb exploded when he realised his then girlfriend was still inside (file picture)

In 2002 the Murchie was labelled a hero after he ran back into the Sari Club in Bali after a bomb exploded when he realised his then girlfriend was still inside (file picture) 

In March last year, Murchie medically retired and the charges were pressed against him in November. 

He is expected to front court for a five day hearing on July 8 at Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court and he has entered a plea of not guilty. 

 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk