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US woman convicted in Bali 'suitcase murder' case to be deported

Heather Mack was freed from prison early for good behaviour
Heather Mack was freed from prison early for good behaviour

US woman Heather Mack, who was convicted as a pregnant teenager of helping to kill her mother at an Indonesian luxury hotel, was to be deported along with her now six-year-old daughter, immigration officials said.

Mack, 25, was released from a Bali prison last week, nearly three years early for good behaviour, and was set to be flown to the US later today.

"Yes, it's true. (She's) got the ticket already," a spokesman for Bali's justice ministry told reporters when asked about Mack's pending deportation.

In a case dubbed the "suitcase murder", the then 19-year-old was handed a ten-year jail term in 2015 while her boyfriend Tommy Schaefer got 18 years for the murder of Chicago socialite Sheila von Wiese Mack at a hotel on the holiday island.

Schaefer - the father of Mack's child - beat the 62-year-old victim to death with a fruit bowl during an argument at the five-star St Regis resort.

The couple then stuffed the woman's body into a suitcase and tried to flee with it in a taxi, but quickly abandoned it.

Mack was found guilty on a lesser charge of assisting in the murder.

Earlier, Mack's lawyer told said that she did not want her daughter to be deported and "hounded by the (US) media".

Since the pandemic began, Mack, who is now fluent in Indonesian and Balinese, had only video contact with her daughter.

The 2014 murder shook the island, with details of the killing emerging during the closely followed trial.

The court heard how Ms von Wiese Mack's badly beaten body was discovered in the taxi outside the ritzy hotel where she had been staying with her daughter and Schaefer.

The couple had fled to another part of Bali, where police arrested them.

Schaefer, who remains in prison, confessed to the killing during his trial, but claimed he was defending himself during an argument with Ms von Wiese Mack, who was unhappy that her daughter was pregnant.

Prosecutors alleged that Schaefer "blindly hit" Ms von Wiese Mack with the fruit bowl in a fit of rage after she hurled a racial slur at him.

During the attack, Mack hid in a bathroom, but later helped Schaefer stuff the body into a suitcase, the trial heard.

The sentencing judge described the killing as "sadistic".