The sons of an Australian man whose slashed body was found in a Bali rice field in a killing allegedly ordered by their mother say they are "completely devastated".
Jon and Peter Ellis, both students of Perth's Edith Cowan University, say their businessman father Robert, 60, was a huge influence in their lives.
Their Indonesian mother Julaikah Noor Aini, known as Noor Ellis, was on Wednesday in custody over the bloody crime she organised, apparently motivated by money woes and infidelity.
The sons, due to arrive in Bali on Friday, released a statement paying tribute to their father.
"The circumstances surrounding the death of our father is something we are still trying to come to terms with at this moment," they said.
"We are fortunately surrounded by friends and family.
"We do ask for people to understand our need for privacy at this extremely difficult and sad time for us."
Just hours after telling police her husband of around 20 years was missing on Tuesday, Noor Ellis apparently confessed to ordering her maid's boyfriend to kill him.
Police say she had a range of reasons, "starting from money problems to women problems".
She was at home in their Sanur villa when the maid's boyfriend, who goes by the alias Aril, slashed Mr Ellis' throat in the kitchen, police say.
Then, says Detective Wisnu Wardana, in the early hours of Monday morning, Mr Ellis' body was dumped in a watery ditch alongside a rice field.
Residents of a village between Denpasar and Ubud found it bundled in plastic and bed sheets on Tuesday morning.
Aril was captured later that day trying to flee Bali, while four others wanted over the crime are on the run.
The couple's two maids are in custody, and on Wednesday walked police through a re-enactment of the crime.
Friends of Mr Ellis are stunned.
Ross and Katherine Taylor, of Perth, say they've known the couple for years, and are thinking of their children at this time.
"We are coming to terms with this tragedy only very slowly," said Mr Taylor, who is the president of the Perth-based Indonesia Institute.
Mr Ellis, a dual Australian-British citizen, also has two older children from a previous marriage.
