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 Heather Mack and Tommy Schaefer, both from the Chicago area, were
arrested last August after staff at a luxury hotel discovered the
body of Mack's mother, Sheila von Wiese-Mack, in an abandoned
suitcase in a taxi.
Schaefer was sentenced to 18 years in prison for premeditated murder
immediately after the verdict was delivered by a panel of three
judges, and Mack to 10 years for being an accessory to murder.
The pair were tried separately in Denpasar District Court and it was
not immediately clear if they would appeal.
Schaefer, 21, who had said in court he had killed Wiese-Mack in
self-defense after she attacked him in anger because she objected to
the couple's relationship, apologized to the family of the victim.
"Although I do take full responsibility for my actions, I am not a
murderer," he told Reuters after hearing the verdict.
Prosecutors had called for a 15-year sentence for Mack, 19, because
she faced a lesser charge and because she recently gave birth to a
baby girl.
"10 years is better than the 15 years sought by the prosecution, so
(we're) happy," said Ni Ketut Novi Sri Wirani, Mack's lawyer.
Presiding Judge Made Suweda spent more than an hour reading out the
grisly details of the killing before delivering the verdicts.
"In my decision I have made a special judgment because Heather has a
baby who needs a mother," said the judge. "For Tommy, I call the
crime sadistic."
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Bali police, assisted by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation,
conducted a four-month investigation into the killing, including a
re-enactment with the defendants at the five-star St Regis Bali
Resort where the body was found with bruises on her arms and broken
fingers.
Other evidence submitted to prosecutors included CCTV footage
showing the couple speaking to a taxi driver after dropping the
bloodied suitcase along with other luggage outside the hotel.
Mack and her mother had a troubled relationship and von Wiese-Mack
had frequently reported that her daughter punched and bit her,
according to police reports cited by Chicago media.
Von Wiese-Mack's husband and Heather's father, classical music
composer James Mack, died in 2006.
(Reporting by Trisha Sertori; Writing by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing
by Alex Richardson)
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