Indonesia to deport Australian surfer jailed for drunken rampage

An Australian surfer who was jailed for attacking several people while drunk and naked in Indonesia’s Aceh province will be deported to his home country after agreeing to apologise and pay compensation, officials have said.

Bodhi Mani Risby-Jones, 23, from Queensland, was detained in April on Simeulue Island, a surf resort in the conservative West Aceh regency, after police accused him of going on a drunken rampage that left a fisherman with serious injuries.

Risby-Jones walked free on Tuesday after he went through a restorative justice process by offering to apologise for the attack and pay compensation to the fisherman’s family to avoid going to court to face a possible charge of assault that could have landed him in prison for up to five years, an immigration official said.

The man underwent surgery in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, for broken bones and a serious infection in his legs.

Risby-Jones was taken from Simeulue Island to Meulaboh by ferry late on Tuesday. He was scheduled to appear at the Meulaboh immigration office on Wednesday to sign paperwork before heading back to Australia.

Footage of his release on Tuesday showed Risby-Jones wearing a dark blue T-shirt and a detainee’s red vest as he was escorted by officers to a bus after hugging and saying goodbye to several prison wardens.

“It’s been a long time coming and I’m feeling amazing and super happy and grateful,” he said. “Everyone has been very nice and accommodated me well, thank you.”

Risby-Jones will stay at an immigration detention facility until his documents and plane tickets are ready, officials said.

Violent acts by foreigners are very rare in Aceh, the only province in Muslim-majority Indonesia that practices Shariah, a concession made by the central government in 2001 as part of efforts to end a decades-long war for independence.

Risby-Jones is the first foreigner to successfully resolve a case through restorative justice in the province.