By CINDY WOCKNER and KOMANG ERVIANI

WHEN Noor Ellis’ husband went missing in Bali she didn’t tell anyone — not the police and not their two children living in Australia.

The next day she called his mobile phone. It wasn’t supposed to work. Surprisingly, someone answered. Flustered, she pretended to be a friend looking for him.

But it was the police at the other end of the line and they wanted to talk to someone about a grisly discovery.

The well-known 45-year-old businesswoman agreed to meet the officers in a McDonalds at Sanur, not far from home.

Police sources have told News Corp Australia that at the meeting, she initially described herself as a friend of Robert Ellis, known by everyone as Bob

They told her that a body, believed to be that of 60-year-old Bob Ellis, was found earlier that day, his throat slashed and his body wrapped in plastic and tossed into a muddy ditch next to a rice paddy about 25km away.

At this point Noor admitted she was in fact Mr Ellis’ wife of more than 20 years, and police took her back to the couple’s four-bedroom villa, number C6, in the Emerald Villa complex in Sanur.

In the serene surrounds of the renovated villa, with swimming pool and brightly decorated furniture, there were no signs of the violence that had been perpetrated only two days earlier.

At this stage Noor, whose full name is Julaikah Noor Aini, but who is known as Noor Ellis, had not yet even told the couple’s two sons, that their father was missing.

Tragically, Perth-based John, 23, and Pete, 19, found out from the media that not only was their father dead, but that their mother was the prime suspect. The pair yesterday were given the grim task of viewing their father’s body in a Bali morgue and confronting their alleged killer mother.

By Tuesday afternoon the canny businesswoman, a Rotarian whose phone rang constantly, had allegedly confessed to orchestrating and paying to have her husband killed.

Police allege she told them she paid five killers to slit the throat of her husband in a room off her kitchen — with money and marital issues the motive. She felt “embittered” with him, one source said she told the police.

However, Noor’s lawyer reportedly said on Friday night she denied any involvement in the murder.

They believe that Mr Ellis was murdered about 7pm last Sunday night and that his body was dumped around 10pm. A local farmer noticed an odd shape in the rice paddy ditch on the Monday morning but did not investigate until Tuesday.

The cost of his life was cheap. Police say that Mrs Ellis offered five men a total of 150 million Rupiah or $A14,200. She gave them a down payment of 50 million Rupiah or $A4700 and the rest after the deed was done.

One of the killers, 23-year-old Adrianus Ngongo aka Ariel, a native of nearby Sumba Island, was arrested on Tuesday as he tried to flee by boat to Lombok. He had his share of the blood money on him — 30 million Rupiah — and has since given police his version of events.

He is the boyfriend of one of the Ellis’ two housemaids, both of whom have been arrested, with police saying they kept the family’s dog quiet during the murder, helped clean up the bloody mess in the villa and aided in the disposal of the body.

Staff at the normally tranquil villa complex, where many of the villas are owned by Australians, are shocked at the violence perpetrated behind the walls of C6. Some of the villas are residential, like the Ellis’ but others are rented out to holiday-makers.

Mr Ellis’ grisly death has stunned the local and Jakarta community, where the couple ran a series of successful businesses.

There were rumours of marriage trouble. Some said Mr Ellis was worried about his future given that as an expatriate all his businesses and property were in his Indonesian wife’s name because expatriates cannot own business and property.

As well as a Jakarta telecommunications company, they owned a dive business called Blue Fin and properties.

The couple’s long-time friend, Perth-based Ross Taylor, who was the legal guardian of the couple’s children while they studied in Australia, said the marriage was rocky.

But Noor was not some kind of “evil diva”, and while well-connected in Bali was not part of any underbelly.

“If she did do what the police say she did, I don’t believe it was premeditated. I believe it was a spur-of-the moment act, something done on impulse in the heat of anger that resulted in something shocking,” Mr Taylor told News Corp Australia during the week.

Mr Taylor confirmed the couple’s marriage had been on the rocks for about a year but said he did not believe Mr Ellis was planning to leave his wife.

“Ïn the 23 years that my wife and I have known them, Bob has always been a dedicated family man,”’ he said.

“This wasn’t a man who’d had a midlife crisis and taken up with a younger woman. They were both highly successful, hard-nosed businesspeople. That’s what made their relationship so strong. I mean, they were an amazing couple.

“But they had been experiencing relationship difficulties and Bob had been wanting to make changes to their financial arrangements and also to his will.”

At the end of the day only two people know what truly goes on in a marriage. Now one of them is dead. And two young men have lost their father.

The violent details of an Australian businessman's murder in his own Bali villa have been aired in the trial of his wife, who is accused of ordering the hit.

Noor Ellis faces charges of pre-meditated murder over the death of her husband of 25-years, Robert Ellis, whose body was found in a rice field last October. Also known as Julaikah Noor Aini, Ellis could face the death penalty.

In her defence she claims she only asked her maid's boyfriend to take care of her problems with her husband, not kill him. But the trial has already heard from the maid, and a second maid, that the order was given to kill Mr Ellis.

On Wednesday, the man who cut Mr Ellis' throat, 23-year-old Urbanus Yohanes Ghoghi, told the court in graphic detail of the roles he and four other men played in the killing. Ellis had given one of the men, Martin, a towel and pillow, and the men first tried to suffocate him, Urbanus said. When their victim fought back, Martin handed him the kitchen knife he used to slash his throat. Afterwards, Ellis handed Martin the plastic to wrap her husband's body in, Urbanus' co-accused, Yohanes Sairokudu, said.

"That night, Mrs Noor gave Rp 50 million ($5000) to Martin. It was then split, Rp 10 million each," he said. "Martin also said to us that tomorrow, there will be more."

Yohanes was also asked about a meeting Ellis called prior to the murder, where other witnesses say she gave the order to kill her husband.

"Mrs Noor said that when killing Mr Bob, don't use a sharp weapon," he said. "Close his nose and mouth with a pillow only. To be neat, basically."

Ellis later took the stand as a witness in the trials of the two men, who are also charged with premeditated murder.

Asked by Judge Beslin Sihombing where Mr Ellis was now, she replied: "In heaven". Asked who gave the order to have him murdered she said: "probably me".

The judge replied: "Probably? Or did you order them?"

She replied: "Because of the order from me. I asked Martin's help to teach a lesson".

Judge Hadi Masruri asked Ellis why she gave the order.

"For a long time he hadn't given me sufficient (money), (he) even took the money for my kids' schooling," she replied. "Because his attitude didn't change, I couldn't stand it anymore. Once I asked for divorce but he didn't want to. He said we should just go on, in our own way."

The trial continues next week with Ellis' defence

Noor Ellis has been jailed for killing her husband Robert in Bali. Now his sons are fighting to ensure she never sees any of his money.

by Cindy Wockner.

THE sons of murdered Australian businessman Bob Ellis now face a bitter fight to ensure their mother - the killer of their father - doesn’t get a cent from his substantial Indonesian wealth and assets.

Noor Ellis was convicted this week of orchestrating the murder and sentenced to 12 years in jail.

The sentence, well short of the maximum and less than the prosecution demand, has dismayed the couple’s two sons, who say justice was not done and who have now disowned their mother.

Peter and John Ellis, Perth-based university students, now face a battle to ensure that their father’s killer doesn’t get any of the wealth he worked his whole life to achieve.

They are however hampered by the fact that in Indonesia, where foreigners may not own property in their own names and where everything was in Noor Ellis’ name, there is also no forfeiture rule to prevent a murderer from benefiting from the estate.

The two young men, who miss their father and his counsel dreadfully and who feel betrayed by their mother, have worked with lawyers for the past few weeks in a bid to have all the assets frozen. However nothing can be finalised until after the appeal processes, which could take up to a year.

And they learned recently that their mother had sold a block of land worth $250,000 without their knowledge or approval.

Speaking to News Corporation in the wake of the verdict Peter, 20 and John, 23, both say justice was not done in the Denpasar District Court.

Three of the five hitmen who Noor Ellis paid $14,200 to kill her husband, including the man who slit his throat, also received 12-year sentences. The couple’s two housemaids, who were accessories, got seven years.

“We will have to fight to remove Noor from the Indonesian assets. Everything is also on hold until the final verdict from the appeals, which could take up to a year. At the moment we have done our best to freeze the assets and keep an eye on them for any fraudulent activity,” both sons said.

“We are going to do everything we can to ensure Noor can’t get access to these assets. It’s not a simple process in Indonesia, like in Australia and New Zealand where we have he forfeiture rule that prevents a person who causes the death of another from benefiting from their estate,” the brothers said.

They have, however, learned that their mother has pocketed $250,000 from the sale of a block of land.

“We have learnt through a real estate agent that Noor has illegally sold a block of land worth $250,000. That’s all the information we have.”

Mr Ellis, a long-time Indonesian resident, had worked hard to set up his business empire which included a large telecommunications business in Jakarta, a dive business in Bali, interest in a hotel in Bali, plus vacant blocks of land around the island.

But as a non-Indonesian it was not in his name. In the months before his death he had made attempts to become an Indonesian citizen in a bid to have the wealth in his own name and secured for his children. But that process was not completed by the time of his death, on October 19 last year.

Now Peter and John, along with their half-siblings Kelvin and Christina, are working to ensure the estate does not disappear.

Neither Peter nor John wants to see their mother again, despite having questions they would like her to answer.

Peter says that the verdict in Bali will be the last time he ever sees her.

“I have plenty of questions to ask her, like why she really did this and what has she done to influence the verdict. Whatever questions I have will never truly be answered so there is no real point in even speaking to her,” Peter said.

At court on Wednesday, Peter says she did not even acknowledge them.

“She was comfortable, calm and collected. It was almost as if Noor knew what sentence she was receiving.”

John concurs: “It is possibly the last time I see her. We both have questions to ask her but even if we had questions it would not be easy to ask her. My brother was denied entry to see our own mother back in February.”

Both brothers are also appalled at the claims, made by Noor in the court and untested, that she was subjected to 11 years of disappointment by her husband and that he was womanising and having affairs and deprived her of money.

“The allegations that my father mistreated Noor are complete lies. At the moment we are hearing Noor’s side of the story. No-one has mentioned the supportive and kind-hearted providing father who we all knew,” John says.

Peter says all his mother’s claims are nonsense.

“It is all total lies, just like where she mentions she is financially deprived. Dad made sure she was very well taken care of and always had large amounts of money on her. She had a stack of credit cards that Dad had to pay for all the time and heaps of expensive gold jewellery,” Peter says.

“Our father never had one good day in court. They painted a disgusting, untrue depiction of our father who was caring, loving and did everything to ensure our family was being looked after. This is how Noor repaid the favour to our father, by murdering him.”

Noor Ellis has told News Corporation that she loves her sons and hopes one day to reconcile with them.

Peter is blunt: “If she loves us and wants to live happily with us she wouldn’t have paid for five people to cut my father’s throat.”