The architect of the explosives that killed hundreds in the 2002 Bali Bombings has launched a new coffee shop and is using his crime to promote it.
Umar Patek was a bomb-maker whose explosives were used in the terrorist attack, which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
He is now using his past to promote his new business he launched in East Java last night, which was bankrolled by an upmarket Indonesian restaurant.
His slogan is: ”Once I concocted bombs, and now I concoct coffee.”
He claims he now “brews peace”.
But Patek’s actions have been condemned by survivors of the bombings.
“Umar Patek has just done the most disgusting and despicable thing,” survivor Phil Britten said.
Britten was in Bali with teammates to celebrate a grand final win.
“This guy got out [of prison] early because he showed remorse. His actions have shown no remorse,” Britten said.
The Kingsley Football Club teammates were inside a packed nightclub in Kuta when they were hit by more than 900 kilograms of explosives hidden inside a minivan. Patek made that bomb.
“It was like being hit by this god almighty power, this heat, this extreme heat, this force, which felt like forever but it was just seconds, that we were just blown like rag dolls through the air,” he said.
Britten’s front teeth were blown out. He had shrapnel wounds and burns to most of his body.
“We went from having the time of our lives to fighting for our lives,” he said.
Britten said he could taste and smell the chemicals the bomb was made out of.
“It wasn’t until i was waking up out of the induced coma in Royal Adelaide Hospital that I found out that seven of my mates died that night,” he said.
Britten isn’t the only victim in disbelief today. 9News spoke with a number very angry, still living with trauma.
But the mass murderer claims he’s reformed, saying he now brews peace.
