EXCLUSIVE
An Australian teacher accused of stealing two bags in Bali has attributed the alleged incident to a case of “Bali belly” and claimed she never intended to commit the theft.
Vanessa Louise Crimmins is accused of stealing backpacks containing an HP laptop and a MacBook Air outside Popular Deli, a supermarket in northern Kuta, on October 30.
She is currently detained in the famous Kerobokan prison for the alleged crime and, if convicted, could spend up to five years in an Indonesian prison.
Crimmins, 45, told the Denpasar District Court on Thursday that he took the bags to secure them because they had been left unattended.
He said he didn’t hand the bags over to security because he didn’t see any security officers and there was no one to ask what to do with them.
“At first, from afar, I saw that there were two bags on the seat (outside the supermarket) and there was no one looking at them,” Crimmins said, using a translator.
‘At that time, I had a problem with my stomach. He had a Bali belly. So first I went home, to the villa.
He later said he returned to the supermarket “and the two bags were still on the seat and all the staff were busy.”
Vanessa Louise Crimmins (pictured) is accused of stealing backpacks containing an HP laptop and a MacBook Air outside Popular Deli, a supermarket in northern Kuta, on October 30.

Crimmins (pictured, front left) is currently detained in the notorious Kerobokan prison for the alleged crime and, if convicted, could spend up to 5 years in an Indonesian prison.
Crimmins said he had a stomach problem again and returned to the villa after failing to find a toilet at Popular Deli.
He was about to hand a backpack to someone at the supermarket, but he had to quickly return to his accommodation to use the bathroom and took the bag with him.
‘I was actually sick at the time after the surgery. I still take medication (for that),’ he said.
‘Later, I returned to the delicatessen… but I couldn’t find security. There was no security there.”
He saw that the other bag was still on a seat outside the store. So I took it. And I had stomach problems again, so I went to my villa and brought the second bag.
When she returned to the store, she wanted to ask what she should do with the bags, but was detained on suspicion of theft.
‘They didn’t speak English. “I felt confused and then I fainted,” she told the court.
Crimmins was asked if he knew what was in the backpacks he had brought to his villa.

Crimmins (pictured right) told the Denpasar District Court that she was taking medication and was ill at the time of the alleged incident.
“I didn’t know because I hadn’t opened them,” he replied. ‘I discovered what they contained after they took me to the police station. He was under the influence of medication.’
Then they asked him why he didn’t take the bags to the supermarket.
“Because I just wanted to ask what I should do with them,” he replied.
A prosecutor asked him if it seemed normal to take the first bag to the villa and then return and take the second.
“Please understand that I was taking medication, I was sick and I had to go to the bathroom at the time,” she said.
‘I took the bag inside to ask people who owns this bag. But then my stomach hurt (and I had to leave). I thought a tourist had left the bag.
They then asked him about his motivation. ‘What is your role there? Why did you feel the responsibility to secure (the bags)?
Crimmins said she had an experience in Australia where “my purse was stolen, my identity was misused to deceive other people.”
“So, I don’t want other people to go through the same experience.”
They then asked him if he understood how Indonesian law works.
The teacher replied: ‘I want to apologize. I had no intention of stealing (the laptops).
“My intention was to secure the bags because they were there for quite a long time, 30 minutes.”
Asked again why he did not seek safety, rather than take other people’s property to his villa, Crimmins said: “I’m sorry I did it.”
“I wasn’t feeling well at that time. I really apologize. My intention was just to secure (the bags).’
He has been charged with article 362 of the Penal Code regarding theft, which could result in a prison sentence of up to five years.
The court previously heard from several witnesses, including the owners of the allegedly stolen laptops, Jakarta man Ardi Nurcahyadi, 42, and Denpasar University student Ni Nyoman Ari Purwaningsih, 24.
The bags were allegedly stolen over a 90-minute period starting at 7:30 a.m. after being left outside the store.
After one of the men alerted Popular Deli’s security chief that her purse had been taken, he checked the security cameras.
The footage allegedly showed Crimmins taking the man’s purse and another one an hour later outside the store.
Police alleged that after the arrest, the stolen bags and computers were found during a search at the North Kuta villa where Crimmins was staying.
After the hearing she was transported back to the infamous Kerobokan prison in Bali, where she remains in custody.
Until recently, the prison housed two members of the Bali Nine drug trafficking network.
Si Yi Chen and Matthew Norman served their sentences at Kerobokan before returning to Australia earlier this month.
Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran also served their sentences on Kerobokan death row before being executed in 2015.
It is also where fellow Australian Schapelle Corby served most of her nine-year prison sentence after attempting to smuggle 4.1kg of marijuana in her bodyboard bag through Denpasar airport in 2004.
Crimmins will appear in court again on Thursday, January 30.