US Couple Jailed For Bali Suitcase Murder

A US couple have been jailed for murdering the woman's mother and stuffing her body into a suitcase in Indonesia.

Tommy Schaefer, 21, and girlfriend Heather Mack, 19, had faced the death penalty for killing her mother Sheila Von Wiese Mack in August last year.

The 62-year-old's battered body was found stuffed into a bloody suitcase outside a luxury hotel on the resort island of Bali.

Presiding judge Made Suweda said Schaefer had been found "legally and convincingly guilty of committing a premeditated murder" and jailed him for 18 years.

He described his deeds as "sadistic" - but said his remorse during the trial at Denpasar District Court in Bali had spared him a heavier sentence.

Mack, who gave birth to a baby girl last month, was jailed for 10 years for assisting in her mother's murder.

Prosecutors had called for a 15-year jail term for her.

After the body was discovered in a taxi at St Regis Bali Resort, the couple, from Chicago, fled to another part of Bali where police arrested them.

Schaefer confessed to the killing during his trial, but claimed he was defending himself during a row with Ms Von Wiese Mack, who was unhappy her daughter was pregnant.

He wept as judges recounted how he beat her to death with a fruit bowl.

While her mother was being murdered, Mack hid in the hotel room bathroom.

The couple then stuffed the body into the suitcase together, according to her indictment.