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Australian Sara Connor Will Not Appeal Four-Year Jail Sentence

She told lawyers she is 'scared and traumatised' by the Bali legal system.
Prosecutors also notified Connor's lawyers they wold be going ahead with an appeal to try and raise her sentence.
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Prosecutors also notified Connor's lawyers they wold be going ahead with an appeal to try and raise her sentence.

Australian woman Sara Connor has told her lawyers she will not be appealing the four-year jail term she received for her role in the fatal assault of a Bali police officer on Kuta beach in August, 2016.

Connor's legal team have told reporters in Bali that she advised them in "strong" terms that she would not be taking the case any further and that she is "scared and traumatised" by the Indonesian legal system, according to the ABC.

Her lawyers also said she remains angry at the sentence handed down to her by the Denpasar District Court and fears for what the consequences could be if she did appeal the decision, according to news.com.au.

Robert Khuana, one of Connor's lawyers, said: "In a strong decision, she said 'I don't want to appeal. I am very worried about the system here.

"We explained to her that you have got a big opportunity to get released or at least less than four years.

"Many times we advised her to appeal but finally she decided, until now, that she doesn't want to appeal. She is scared and [traumatised] with the system here."

Connor, a Byron Bay businesswoman and mother-of-two, was facing the possibility of eight years in jail for the death of 53-year-old Balinese police officer Wayan Sudarsa despite denying involvement in the incident, before only being sentenced to the four-year term for a charge of group violence causing death.

Her British DJ boyfriend, David Taylor was also sentenced to six years in jail on a charge of group violence causing death for his part in the assault.

Connor's decision to not appeal comes as it was revealed on Friday that prosecutors in Bali announced they would appeal the sentence in an attempt to have it raised to match Taylor's jail term. On Monday, Connor's legal team received notification that the appeal would go ahead against her.

The decision from the prosecution team comes after the three judges who sentenced Connor deemed her to have been in a mentally fit state on the night of the incident and claimed she sat on Sudarsa to hold him down while Taylor attacked him, rather than to separate the pair.

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