Four Mexicans Sentenced to Prison for Robbery and Shooting of Turkish National in Bali
DENPASAR – Four Mexican nationals were sentenced to 3 years and 10 months in prison for robbing and shooting a Turkish citizen, Mehmet Turan, 30, during a verdict hearing at the Denpasar District Court on Thursday morning, September 12. Following the verdict, the defendants requested extradition to their home country.
The four Mexicans, identified as Victor Eduardo Deraz Gonzalez, 35, Jose Alfonso Aramburo Contreras, 31, Juan Antonio Mayorquin Escobedo, 31, and Roberto Sicairos Valdes, 26, were heavily guarded by armed military and police personnel throughout the court session.
Chief Judge I Putu Suyoga declared that the defendants were legally and convincingly guilty of committing violent theft, as stipulated in Article 365, paragraph (2), numbers 1, 2, and 4 of the Indonesian Criminal Code. “The defendants are sentenced to 3 years and 10 months in prison, reduced by the duration of their detention,” the judge stated.
Both the Prosecutor, Imam Ramdhoni, and the defense attorneys stated that they would consider whether to appeal the verdict, which was two months shorter than the four-year prison term originally sought by the prosecution. Regarding the defendants’ extradition request, the panel of judges clarified that it was beyond their jurisdiction and suggested that the matter be coordinated with the Ministry of Law and Human Rights. “For extradition, it’s not within our authority. We refer the defendants to coordinate directly through their legal counsel,” the judges added.
The case dates back to December 2023, when the four defendants arrived in Bali, staying in Jimbaran for a vacation while searching for their target, Mehmet Turan, also a Turkish citizen. “During their stay in Bali, they traveled to Jakarta to obtain two Russian-made pistols, a 9 mm and a 7.65 mm caliber, from an Indonesian man in a park,” the prosecutor explained.
The defendants then returned to Bali with the firearms by bus. In January 2024, they met at a restaurant in Uluwatu to discuss their plans to locate Turan. They used a WhatsApp group named ‘MARINA’ to track his whereabouts. After learning that Turan was staying at Villa Palm House, Victor Eduardo Deraz Gonzalez prepared two pistols and three motorbikes to execute the plan.
On the night of January 22, 2024, the defendants scouted the area around Villa Palm House. At 1:00 a.m. on January 23, 2024, they entered the villa and threatened the security guard, I Made Sutana, at gunpoint. Chaos ensued inside the villa as they searched for Turan. Hearing the commotion, Turan came downstairs and confronted the intruders. During the altercation, he was shot twice but survived and received help from the villa’s security.
The defendants were eventually captured on Saturday, January 27, 2024, at around 8:00 a.m. in Jimbaran, South Kuta, Badung, by the Badung Police’s Criminal Investigation Unit, in collaboration with teams from the National Police Criminal Investigation Department, Bali Regional Police, Mengwi Police, and Bali Police Mobile Brigade.
