T

he South Denpasar Police in Denpasar, Bali, have arrested a 50-year-old Australian man after he was allegedly caught red-handed stealing a motorcycle in the Sanur resort area.

The man, identified as James Ian Ramsy Fisher, was arrested by a number of police personnel and pecalang (traditional Balinese security guards) at an intersection in Sanur on Sunday morning, when he was passing a convoy of people in a ngaben (cremation) ceremony on an allegedly stolen motorcycle.

The police personnel and the pecalang who were safeguarding the ceremony quickly realized that the New South Wales man was riding a stolen motorcycle because the motorcycle'€™s owner was chasing him while shouting.

'€œHe was caught around 500 meters from the crime scene where he stole the motorcycle,'€ South Denpasar Police chief Comr. Nanang Prihasmoko said on Tuesday.

Nanang said that the motorcycle was stolen from a sidewalk on Jl. Danau Tamblingan, in front of a souvenir shop in which the motorcycle'€™s owner works.

'€œBefore the incident, the victim came to the shop with her motorcycle but forgot to take the motorcycle key with her. Once she got into the shop, she heard the sound of the motorcycle and saw a foreigner riding her motorbike. The victim then borrowed her friend'€™s motorbike to chase the perpetrator while shouting to ask for help,'€ Nanang said.

Nanang, however, said the police had yet to find the motive behind the theft, as they found it difficult to interrogate Fisher.

'€œWe tried to interrogate him several times for a couple of hours, but he keep replying to our questions with random answers,'€ he said.

After the failed interrogation attempts, the police sent Fisher on Monday to Sanglah Hospital to undergo a psychiatric test.

Nanang said the hospital needed to conduct a one-week observation of Fisher before making any conclusions about his mental state.

'€œIf the psychiatric test shows that he has a mental illness, we will talk to the victim as the legal process cannot proceed. One of the conditions for a legal process is the suspect must be healthy and not have a mental illness,'€ Nanang said, adding that the observation was being conducted under the supervision of police personnel.

Nanang said Fisher had told the doctor that he had suffered from depression because of a family problem.

'€œHe said that he had divorced his wife last year, but we don'€™t know whether it is true or not. That'€™s what he said to the doctor,'€ Nanang said.

Sanglah Hospital spokesperson Kadek Nariyantha, meanwhile, confirmed that Fisher was being treated at the hospital'€™s Lely room since Monday.

'€œHe is being treated with a preliminary diagnose of acute psychotic disorder,'€ Nariyantha said.

He added that a psychiatric observation was now being carried out on Fisher.

'€œThe result can be known when the observation period is completed. We will need around one week to get the results,'€ Nariyantha added.