Singapore – The Bali resort where a Singaporean couple was robbed, injured and harassed denied having tried to ask them for 250 million (S$23,700) in compensation for a rented scooter that was stolen.

Eugene Aathar and Dolly Ho were on a four-day trip to Bali and stayed at La Vie Villa.

On May 6, they were on their way back to the villa on a rented villa scooter when two men on a scooter rode closely beside them. The men took Ho’s Samsung S10, kicked the couple off the scooter and snatched their ride as well.

The scooter, which was rented for 125,000 rupiah (S$12) from La Vie Villa had 12 million rupiah (S$1,140) stashed in the compartment, reported The Straits Times.

The couple were taken to the Siloam Hospital Denpasar where Aathar was treated for minor injuries and Ho for a concussion and a fractured shoulder. Ho is said to suffer from memory loss.

The villa’s employees allegedly entered the hospital ward where Ho was confined to and demanded compensation for the scooter amounting to 250 million rupiah (S$23,700). The staff also threatened the couple if they did not pay up.

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According to the ST report, Aathar eventually paid them 12 million rupiah (S$1,137) which was the price of a scooter.

A police report was made.

The couple was escorted back to Singapore on May 10.

No such claims, says the villa

Through a Facebook post following the couple’s side of the story, La Vie Villa refuted their claims.

“These accusations are untrue, and deeply unfair to the hardworking staff and management that have made La Vie Villa so great,” wrote Dwi Permadi, a manager of the villa.

After wishing the couple a swift recovery, the manager went on set the record straight. He wrote that none of the villa staff threatened to keep Aathar in Bali, nor did they try to extort the sum of 250 million rupiah. “To engage in such behaviors (sic) as this would be antithetical to our values. I do firmly object to these characterisations; this simply did not happen. We at the La Vie Villa have no idea why Mr. Aathar has chosen to assert this,” said the manager.

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He explained that the legalities of the loss of property were handled civilly with both parties agreeing on a reasonable price of compensation.

“I can also tell you that the sum compensated was nowhere close to the figure Mr. Aathar claims he was “threatened” with,” said Dwi. “we can only think that Mr. Aathar perhaps added a few zeroes into the sum being discussed,” he added.

The manager added that the couple could have been overwhelmed by their traumatic experience which led to the misunderstanding. “In hindsight it is clear that Mr. Aathar was perhaps in too much of an emotionally fragile state to conduct business and needed more time and care before discussing such unfortunate, but absolutely necessary, legal matters.”

Read the full post here.

Some photos uploaded in La Vie Villa supporting their post.

Photo: Taken from La Vie Villa’s FB page
Photo: Taken from La Vie Villa’s FB page

ByHana O