Bali bombing victims urge harsh sentences for Malaysian men for ‘savage destruction of life’

Australian national Phil Britten, 43, in his victim impact statement shared how a ‘trip of a lifetime’ in 2002 ended with seven of his friends killed

He and another Australian called for the judge at Guantanamo Bay’s military court to punish Mohammed Farik bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep to the fullest extent of the law

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Officers inspect the ruins of a Bali nightclub in October 2002. Photo: AP

Published: 12:00pm, 25 Jan 2024Updated: 2:49pm, 25 Jan 2024

Bali bombing victims on Wednesday shared harrowing accounts of how their lives had changed, as they read their impact statements in Guantanamo Bay’s military court ahead of the sentencing of two Malaysians who have admitted to playing a role in the attacks.

Mohammed Farik bin Amin, 48, and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep, 47, last week pleaded guilty to a range of charges, including murder and conspiracy, linked to the blasts in Bali’s Kuta nightlife district which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, 38 Indonesians and seven US nationals on October 12, 2002.

Perth resident Phil Britten, 43, recounted how his first holiday abroad turned into horror when seven of the 19 friends he had been travelling with were killed.

“I was the captain of the Kingsley Football Club, and we were all celebrating the end of a successful season of Australian Rules Football,” he said in his statement. “It was to be the trip of a lifetime. But for many of us, it ended up being the trip that either ended or forever changed our lives.”

Hambali, accused mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombing. Photo: Handout

Britten, then 22, was inside the Sari Club when a one-tonne bomb hidden in a van went off in front of the establishment. A suicide bomber also attacked the adjacent Paddy’s Pub , while a third explosion took place outside the US consulate in the nearby Renon district.