British and US women face two years in Bali jail for ‘attacking salon staff during row over prices’ – but they claim they were ‘held hostage’ when they tried to go to a cash machine to fetch money to pay

• The women, said to be from London and New York, were backpacking in Bali 

A pair of British and American tourists are facing up to two years in prison after they were arrested for allegedly attacking nail salon staff in Bali, Indonesia.

The women, identified by local media as Andrea CW, 37, from London, UK, and Chansler A, 37, from New York, US, reportedly assaulted staff of the Ombre Nail Salon in Kerobokan over a misunderstanding about payment.

The backpackers allegedly did not have enough money to pay the fees for an extra treatment they asked for and became angry when the staff tried to charge them for the service.

Shocking CCTV footage shows Chansler in a bucket hat appearing to grab a clerk by the collar and pulling her over the counter as the employee shouted ‘you have to pay!’

Chansler is pushed back and crashes into a table before a furious Andrea appears and steps in, screaming at the member of staff: ‘Relax, I am trying to give you the money! Relax yourself, understand?!

Shocking CCTV footage shows Chansler in a bucket hat appearing to grab a clerk by the collar and pulling her over the counter

The women, identified by local media as Andrea CW, 37, from the London , UK,were paraded in orange prison uniforms

‘Let me tell you something. I am trying to be reasonable. I asked you several times to let me outside. I ran outside to get money. You don’t know what I’m going outside for? Why were you trying to hold me hostage?’

The manager of Ombre Nails Studio said: ‘These customers came and asked for treatment in our studio and they were informed about the prices and everything, but at the end they refused to pay the amounts.

‘They blackmailed us that if we kept asking them to pay, they will leave a bad review, and they started to verbally abuse our staff.

‘All proof was recorded and is being handled by our lawyer, and we submitted a report to police last night.

‘They also attempted to take our money in the cashier and caused some physical injury and mental shock to our staff.

‘We needed to catch them so they can at least apologize to our staff. Some of them are still trembling and crying until today.’

The female tourists were arrested by police while they were trying to board a plane to Thailand at the Ngurah Rai International Airport on December 16.

Ngurah Rai Immigration officer Gilang Danurdara said: ‘The two perpetrators entered the immigration area and queued at the counter at around 5.30 pm.

Indonesian police accompanying the two women following their arrest

Police in Bali speak to a press conference following the arrest of the two women

‘They looked suspicious because they were wearing hats and masks. There was an attempt to deceive.’

Immigration officials said they matched the women’s faces to the CCTV video circulating online before handing them to the police.

Badung Police Chief Kompol I Made Pramasetia said: ‘The pair were actually planning to stay in Indonesia until December 22. They were scheduled to visit Pulau Dewata, but they decided to leave on December 16 following the incident at the salon.’

Andrea and Chansler were facing charges for violating Section 1, Article 351 of the Indonesian Penal Code, which states that ‘maltreatment shall be punished with a maximum imprisonment of two years and eight months.’

They will also be charged under Article 335 or ‘forcing others to do something’, which carries a maximum prison sentence of one year.

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