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Briton, Australian re-enact Bali policeman's murder

A Briton and his Australian girlfriend accused of killing a policeman on the Indonesian resort island of Bali were Wednesday forced to re-enact events on the night of the murder. David Taylor and Sara Connor were taken to the island's popular Kuta beach in orange overalls with the word "prisoner" on the back for the police reconstruction. Police say there are inconsistencies in their accounts and the reconstruction of the murder of the officer, whose battered body was found on the beach on August 17, was aimed at getting to the bottom of what happened. The pair embraced when they saw one another at the beach for the first time since their arrest, two days after the murder of traffic officer Wayan Sudarsa. They were then forced to re-enact step-by-step the authorities' version of events, in front of a media scrum and with officers giving directions. Taylor, a DJ, has already admitted to police that he clashed with Sudarsa on the night of his death after accusing the officer of stealing Connor's bag. Police say he flew into a rage and hit the policeman repeatedly over the head with a beer bottle, although his defence lawyer says he was first pushed by the officer. The pair began the police reconstruction, in the early hours of Wednesday, by acting out the moment they kissed beside the water. Later, Taylor and a man playing the role of the victim fell onto the sand as they fought. At one point Connor intervened to try to separate them, as she claimed to police she had done. She has maintained her innocence although police say she played a role in the murder. She pressed down on the victim, who turned and bit her. The most dramatic scene was when Taylor acted out hitting the victim over the head with a broken bottle. "The climax was when the hitting was carried out using a bottle," Hadi Purnomo, police chief in the Balinese capital Denpasar, told reporters after the re-enactment. Taylor and Connor could face up to 15 years in jail if found guilty of murder. Bali, a pocket of Hinduism in Muslim-majority Indonesia, is a popular tourist destination with a tropical climate and palm-fringed beaches. Petty crime is common but murders are rare.