Australian woman Sara Connor has finally returned home to Australia after spending four years in an Indonesian prison for her role in the fatal assault of a policeman on a Bali beach.
The Byron Bay mother-of-two was spotted arriving at Sydney Airport on Saturday night, but was soon whisked away by police to undergo two weeks of quarantine.
Wearing a black face mask and jeans, Ms Connor was seen on her mobile phone as she enjoyed her first taste of freedom.
She appeared to be dressed in the same clothes she was seen in when she left prison two days ago.
She was jailed in the notorious Keobokan prison after the bashing death of police officer Wayan Sudarsa in Kuta in 2016.
Wearing a black face mask and jeans, Ms Connor (pictured on Saturday at Sydney Airport) was seen arriving home after four years in an Indonesian prison
Ms Connor (pictured, at Sydney Airport on Saturday) was jailed in the notorious Keobokan prison after the death a police officer Wayan Sudarsa in Kuta in 2016
She was jailed alongside her then-boyfriend, British national David Taylor, after they were found guilty of a fatal group assault.
A brief statement from security firm Tora Solutions said the 49-year-old woman was released on Thursday into the custody of Indonesian immigration.
Ms Connor was all smiles as she posed for a photo in the lead up to her release, which saw her hop straight on a plane back to Australia.
A statement said Ms Connor was looking forward to returning home and grateful for the support she had received.
Ms Connor kept her head down and barely made eye contact with anyone as stepped onto the bus that would take her to hotel quarantine.
She appeared to want the event of her arriving back home to pass as a non-event as she was shuttled onto the bus with other returning travellers.
The shuttle bus was escorted by a motorcade of police officers on motorcycles.
Ms Connor (pictured at Sydney Airport on Saturday) was jailed alongside her then-boyfriend, British national David Taylor, after they were found guilty of a fatal group assault.
The mum-of-two (pictured at Sydney Airport on Saturday) has left ex-boyfriend Taylor behind, who is serving a six-year sentence in Kerobokan’s male prison for his part in the officer’s death
Ms Connors will spend the next two weeks quarantining at the five-star InterContinental hotel in the middle of Sydney’s CBD.
After the two weeks of coronavirus quarantine, she will be reunited with her sons, having spent her time inside honing her craft as an artist and undertaking hair-dressing, crochet and make-up courses.
She has left ex-boyfriend Taylor behind, who is serving a six-year sentence in Kerobokan’s male prison for his part in the officer’s death.
However, there are concerns she could be killed in a revenge attack as soon as she’s released after a cop killer on the popular tourist island was recently murdered in Sulawesi upon their release from jail.
‘We want to ensure her safety when she is released from prison. We don’t want another revenge killing,’ Mr Suprapto, the corrections division head of the Law and Human Right ministry’s Bali office, told The Daily Telegraph.
Sara Connor (pictured on Thursday) is escorted to a waiting car after being released from prison in Bali
The Australian woman (pictured) covered her face with a headscarf as she was bundled into the back of an immigration vehicle on Thursday
She was all smiles the day before being released from Kerobokan Prison after serving four years for her role in the fatal assault of a policeman on a Bali beach
‘Her safety is our consideration. Cases where victims are police officers can attract persecution.’
Prisoners serving time with Ms Connor say she has grown paranoid in the weeks leading up to her release and will lash out at anyone she suspects is trying to take a photo of her.
Although she has retrained as a hairdresser during her sentence and took up painting, insiders say she has grown very withdrawn and now rejects any jail activities including exercise, arts and even food.
‘Sara keeps to herself and is not friendly. Not to anyone. She didn’t participate in our recent fashion show and never gets involved with dance, or anything that the jail asks her to be part of,’ a prisoner, who did not wish to be named, said.
‘She thinks people will sell her photo and is crazy and paranoid about that. She loves her ciggies and coffee and hanging out in a quiet corner.’
The Byron Bay mother-of-two was issued her release papers on Thursday after a four-year stint behind bars
Ms Connor showed off her inked fingers (pictured) before she was released from Kerobokan prison in Bali
Ms Connor’s ‘relaxing holiday’ turned into a ‘nightmare’ when her then British boyfriend David Taylor, beat a police officer of 35 years to death with multiple objects.
They included a mobile phone, the officer’s own binoculars and a Bintang beer bottle.
The holidaying couple were cuddling at the water’s edge at Kuta Beach before the killing unfolded.
An Indonesian court found that the now 38-year-old ‘DJ Nutzo’ confronted officer Wayan Sudarsa after Connor had lost her purse.
Ms Connor (pictured) is seen in hand cuffs during her trial at Denpasar District Court in Bali on February 14, 2017
He began to frisk Mr Sudarsa before the situation violently escalated.
Connor was found to have put her arm around the policeman’s neck and sat on his stomach an was convicted of fatal assault in company.
The mum, whose children are now 13 and 15, claimed she was bitten by Mr Sudarsa when trying to separate the pair, and ran away, ending her involvement.
Taylor claimed he was ‘in fear of his life’, when he struck Mr Sudarsa over the head with a beer bottle.
When Mr Sudarsa was motionless, Taylor took the officer’s identification cards.
At Ms Connor’s trial, the judges said she cut up Mr Sudarsa’s ID cards not to protect his identity and stop them from being stolen, but because she panicked and felt guilty.
Ms Connor (pictured) is set to walk free on Thursday after spending the past four years behind bars for her role in the fatal assault of a local policeman at Kuta Beach in August 2016
Connor’s ‘relaxing holiday’ turned into a ‘nightmare’ when her then British boyfriend David Taylor (pictured) beat a police officer of 35 years to death with multiple objects
A man walks past the main gate of the notorious Kerobokan Prison (pictured) where Ms Connor was being held
Taylor later told Ms Connor the police officer was ‘passed out’ on the beach.
They had no idea, they claimed, of the seriousness of Mr Sudarsa’s injuries.
Dr Dudut Rustyadi, who performed the autopsy on Mr Sudarsa, told their trials it would have taken him at least two hours to die and had someone intervened he might have been saved.
Instead, Ms Connor and Taylor returned to their hotel, cut up Mr Sudarsa’s cards and left for nearby Jimbaran later that morning.
Two days later, Ms Connor turned on her mobile phone and learned of his death.
She has since offered $2,500 in compensation offered to the policeman’s widow, and has always maintained her innocence.
Taylor is serving a six-year sentence for his part in the officer’s fatal assault.
Connor and her British boyfriend were convicted over the murder of a local policeman. She is pictured (above) inside an immigration office after her release
Security consultant John McLeod (pictured) was approached to escort Byron Bay mother of two Sara Connor out of the notorious Kerobokan jail