Jakarta: The brother of slain Australian businessman Robert Ellis has said he would like his former sister-in-law to receive the death penalty for allegedly ordering the hit.
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Noor Ellis is charged with premeditated murder over the brutal death of her husband of 25-years, whose body was found wrapped in plastic and dumped in a rice paddy last October. His throat had been slashed with a kitchen knife.
"I'd be happy with death, I've got no qualms about it. I've always been an eye for an eye person," David Ellis said outside the Denpasar District Court.
"She took a life, she can forfeit (her own). It's also very hard for the family to go forward while she is alive, she's made it very awkward for everyone."
According to a police document read in court, Robert and Noor's son John Michael Ellis, asked for his mother's life to be spared because she was the sole breadwinner for the family.
However John told Fairfax Media this was false.
"When giving my statement not once did I ever agree to giving a lesser sentence," John said.
"I want no part in it and only want the justice system to do the right thing."
John said he had made a statement at the police station on December 24.
Two lawyers, a translator, the police chief and Noor's sister were present in the room and Noor was in an adjoining room separated by glass, so you could see and hear what was happening on the other side.
"After I signed off the statement I went home thinking everything went ok. It wasn't until today that my mother's lawyer used my statements to defend my mother," John said.
"I was also told that during the statement no-one is allowed to be in the room apart from the translator and the police officer but everyone was there."
John's brother, Peter Ellis, tweeted: "My brother's statement in the Ellis case was forged and false."
Peter said they had made it clear in their interview on Channel 7 on Sunday they wanted justice done. "Not a lenient sentence," he tweeted.
According to the statement read in court by by prosecutor Gede Raka Arimbawa, John said that after his father was murdered and his mother arrested, he and Peter had no-one and could not continue with their education because no one was paying for it.
He said they even had to rely on Noor's sister for food.
Noor wept as the statement was read.
But David Ellis said that while it was true the boys were now dependent on relatives, it was "ridiculous" to suggest Noor was a breadwinner. "She's not a breadwinner, she never has been," he said.
The defence case is that Noor asked a maid's boyfriend to take care of her problems with her husband, not to kill him.
She said Ellis had not given her enough money and even took the money for their son's schooling.
"Because his attitude didn't change, I couldn't stand it anymore," Noor told the court earlier this month.
"Once I asked for divorce but he didn't want to. He said we should just go on, in our own way."
David was scornful when told the defence would pursue the line that Noor suffered from battered wife syndrome.
"She certainly wasn't battered. Christ, she lived in a villa. He never laid a hand on her. She had full access to everything she wanted to and she could have walked away," David said.
"I never saw her with any less than five million rupiah ($500AUD) on her and at least $10,000 worth of jewellery. Never. She would buy clothes and drop them on the floor and the maids would come and pick them up and she would buy more. That's all she would do - spend money."
He said the family was fighting for Ellis's estate purely to prevent Noor having access to it.
"They can throw the estate into the ocean as long as Noor doesn't get it," David said.
"The problem with Indonesia ... is that it's all about the money. Well it's not; for us it's about justice. We don't care a damn about the estate here. The only reason we will fight for the estate is to make sure Noor doesn't get it. It's their (Peter and John's) inheritance, it's what he worked so hard for and she's destroyed it. So what remnants are left belong to them."
In the purported statement, John said he had been living and studying in Australia and found about his father's death through the media.
He tried to call Noor but could not reach her on the mobile phone.
John allegedly said his mother had been treated badly by his father. He got angry a lot with her, and they had differing opinions on whether he and his brother should study in Australia australia. He said his mother had once planned to buy or build a house in Australia, but his father disagreed.
Noor will be cross examined next Tuesday.
