Essendon premiership player Ricky Olarenshaw linked to illegal Bali ...
Essendon premiership player Ricky Olarenshaw linked to illegal Bali massage parlour
Essendon premiership player and former media identity Ricky Olarenshaw has been linked to a Bali massage parlour that was allegedly offering illegal sexual services through its employees.
Olarenshaw’s estranged wife, Sarnanitha, was arrested after raids on parlours last month that also nabbed two Australians, including a Bali bombing survivor, linked to a different Bali business.
Essendon premiership player Ricky Olarenshaw and his wife, Sarnanitha, in 2023.Credit: Facebook
Olarenshaw is alleged to be an unofficial owner of Flame Spa Bali, which operates three franchises on the island that provide “sensual” massages.
One service, called the Firestorm, offers an hour-long “full body-to-body sensual massage with three exotic therapists”. Another, the Inferno, is for couples.
Prostitution is illegal in Indonesia, and Flame Spa Bali’s website adds: “We strictly prohibit sexual intercourse.”
But in a press conference on Friday, Bali police said a September 2 raid on the Seminyak premises discovered a therapist in a “completely naked condition”. Subsequent investigations then allegedly revealed that therapists offered sexual services.
Sarnanitha’s lawyer issued a statement earlier this month claiming the while the business was officially in her name, it was actually owned by four Australians, including Olarenshaw.
“It is not true that Flame Spa belongs to Nitha,” the lawyer said, as quoted by media outlet DetikBali, which revealed the story.
“Flame Spa belongs to Nitha’s husband, Ricky Norman Olarenshaw, along with his three friends …”
The lawyer said Olarenshaw had returned to Australia.
Asked on Saturday if the ex-footballer was wanted for questioning, Bali police spokesman Jansen Avitus Panjaitan said: “It is part of an ongoing investigation. We will have to get back to you on that.”
This masthead is not suggesting Olarenshaw or Sarnanitha were aware of any allegedly illegal activities happening in Flame Spa Bali. It is also not suggesting he was a co-owner, only that Sarnanitha’s lawyer claimed it to be so.
Olarenshaw played 77 senior AFL games with Essendon, including the 1993 premiership. He later played five games with Collingwood and one for North Melbourne before retiring in 2001. He became a regular Bali visitor from the late 1990s and met his wife there. For a time, he featured as a boundary rider for Channel Seven’s AFL coverage.
Attempts to contact him by phone and email were unsuccessful.
Loading
Also on Friday, police paraded two Australians – Michael Jerome Le Grand, 50, and Lynley Le Grand, 44 – for their alleged involvement in a separate illegal massage parlour, called the Pink Palace, in the Kuta district.
Police alleged the Pink Palace was offering sex services and also employed a 17-year-old minor. Lynley Le Grand was a survivor of the 2002 Bali bombings.
Police charged the pair under pornography laws, which can carry up to 12 years in jail.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.
Loading
