Body of slain businessman due to arrive

Robert Kevin Ellis was murdered in the villa he shared with his wife Julaikah Noor Aini. Photo / Facebook

NZ family say executive was good to everyone including wife now under arrest.

The body of an Auckland-raised business magnate murdered in Bali this week will arrive in New Zealand tomorrow ahead of a private funeral.

Robert Kevin Ellis, 60, was murdered in the villa he shared with Julaikah Noor Aini, also known as Noor Ellis, in Bali on Monday last week. She was arrested the next day after Mr Ellis' body - hands and feet tied - was found wrapped in plastic and a bed sheet and dumped in a rice paddy 25km away.

Police are considering charging her with premeditated murder, and allege she paid a group of men and her housemaids to murder Mr Ellis and dispose of his remains.

Mr Ellis was born in the UK but his parents, Nancy and Bob, moved him and his three siblings to New Zealand when he was a child.

He was raised in South Auckland and later moved to Australia. He met Aini in 1986 and the couple married in 1989 and had two sons, John and Peter. Mr Ellis also has a son Kelvin and daughter Christina from a previous relationship.

His parents told the Herald they were devastated by his death.

Mrs Ellis said she did not know much about what had happened. She was leaving that side of things to the family and was focusing on her son.

"He was a rock. He was a marvellous son," she said. "He was so good to all of his family, he looked after everybody - including the one who [allegedly] did the damage."

"It's bloody awful to be honest ... but it's done," father Bob Ellis said. "We've accepted it, it happened. His body is coming home."

Robert Ellis
*Dual Australian/British Citizen
*Was raised in Auckland
*Had lived in Bali for about 10 years
*Previously lived in Australia for up to 20 years
*Survived by four children, three sons and a daughter