A solo female traveller has shared the terrifying moment an Australian woman allegedly punched her in the face after an argument escalated on a ferry in Bali.
The woman had been travelling on the Maruti ferry from Penida to Sanur when the confrontation erupted over a disagreement about seating arrangements.
In a post to Reddit this week, the woman explained the Australian family had asked her to move seats so they could sit together for the journey.
But she declined, explaining there was no other seats available on the lower deck.
The woman got into an argument with the Australian family after they said ‘bad things’ about her and she retaliated, telling them she could sit where she liked.
‘(The) daughter told me to shut up or she will punch me in the face and it escalated – she punched me in the face and broke my sunglasses and said I need to shut up or else she will punch me again… got it on video cause I wasn’t sure what’s going to happen being alone vs a group,’ the woman said.
In video of the clash, the Australian daughter was heard telling the woman to ‘shut up’ as she approached her seat and pushed her phone away.
‘She assaulted me,’ the woman said.
The solo traveller accused the Australian woman (pictured) of punching her in the face and breaking her sunglasses in the process after an argument escalated
The Australian woman (pictured) denied punching the woman, arguing she didn’t touch the woman’s face and had only been trying to push her phone away
‘You initiated it you little b****,’ the girl’s mother yelled back.
‘Do not blame my f***ing kid because you initiated it.
‘You assaulted yourself you stupid idiot.’
Another female passenger was seen alerting staff to the dispute and pointing to the Australian family, saying ‘they started it’.
‘I was sitting here the whole time,’ the woman filming continued.
‘She came over to this aisle and slapped me.’
‘Shut up! I’m going to f***ing punch you again,’ the girl hit back.
‘I actually didn’t touch your face, I grabbed your phone. Look at the video and you can see that.’
A Balinese local appeared to make a ‘time out’ sign with his fingers as the women argued
‘Yeah? You can talk to the police about that,’ the woman replied.
‘[My] glasses are on the floor.’
In her Reddit post, the woman said the family was asked to move to the upper deck.
‘The kind Indian lady came over to sit with me and the boat company made them sit upstairs. I told the male member (seemingly the dad) of the family that this needs to be addressed with the police and he said ok,’ she wrote.
‘But then when alighting the boat they left quickly.’
The clash comes following a spate of incidents involving Australian tourists in Bali.
Lamar Ahchee, 43, the son of former Queensland Senior Constable Les Ahchee, was arrested in Bali last Thursday after he was allegedly caught with 1.8kg of cocaine.
The narcotics were allegedly hidden inside two Gold Lindt chocolate boxes, each containing 54 individual packets of the drug, with 8.3g wrapped inside each one.
The clash comes following a spate of incidents involving Australian tourists in Bali
The former tech manager originally from Cairns in Far North Queensland could face the death penalty for allegedly trying to smuggle the drugs.
In February, Mohamed Rifai, 27, from Sydney’s south-west, and eight Balinese security guards were arrested over a brawl outside popular Bali night club Finns.
Rifai claimed he acted in self-defence while he was allegedly attacked by the security guards after they escorted his friend John Ebid from the club.
He faces five years in Indonesian jail for the injuries guard Made Bagus Yohanandita suffered in the altercation, who lost several teeth in the melee.
Last week, an Australian man who assaulted a German woman while relaxing by the pool in a luxury Bali resort was remanded in custody.
Ali Shahrouk, 38, was sentenced over an altercation with tourist Christin Steinrode Tiller at the $950 a night Apurva Kempinski Hotel in south Kuta on January 29.
Her nose and jaw was fractured in the incident.
