Search Here

American couple Heather Mack,19, and her boyfriend Tommy Schaefer, 21, both from Chicago are charged with premeditated murder, but the two demand that the indictment should be annulled in view of the inaccuracies of the claims.

The two are charged with the murder of Sheila von Wiese-Mack, 62, the mother of the accused. The mother was found in a suitcase in a trunk of a taxi outside an upscale hotel in Bali last year, reported Chicago.

Mack and Schaefer go to separate trial but with the same judges and prosecutor teams at the Denpasar District Court on Bali. The two are facing a possible death penalty.

The lawyer of the couple claims that the prosecutors' charges contained inaccuracies leading to multiple interpretations of the suspects' activities and the crime scene. Thus, it is prone to the possibility of other people entering the victim's room and then murdered her.

The prosecutors on the other hand told the court that the indictment that they're pressing is qualified both materially and formally in accordance to the law, reported CTNow.

"Our indictment as well as charges are very clear," said chief prosecutor Eddy Arta Wijaya. "Let's prove it through witnesses' testimonies and evidences in the next hearings."

The prosecutors charged the two with murder on the account of the mother's being not in favor of the relationship. They said that Mack has suggested to Schaefer that he hire someone to kill her mother for $50,000 before their visit to Bali.

An argument ensued between Mack's mother and Schaefer because of the hotel bill. The mother insulted him and that's when he battered her with a fruit bowl handle.

Heather, who was 7 months pregnant, helped Schaefer stuff the dead woman's body into the suitcase by sitting on it so it became easier for Schaefer to close. They then hailed a taxi, placed the suitcase in the trunk, and promised to return after checking out of the hotel which they did not do, reported The Herald.

Jude Made Suweda, who serves as the presiding Judge, decided to postpone the trial until Monday where the judge panel will decide if the case will proceed or not.