Tommy Schaefer, right, and Heather Mack, arrive for their trial at Denpasar's district court in Bali.(Photo: Firdia Lisnawati, AP)
Tommy Schaefer at his his trial on charges of murder at a court in Denpasar on Indonesia's resort island of Bali. (Photo: Sonny Tumbelaka, AFP/Getty Images)
An American couple have been jailed by an Indonesian court after being convicted of murdering the woman's mother.
The Denpasar District Court found Tommy Schaefer, 21, guilty of beating socialite Sheila von Wiese-Mack, 62, to death in a hotel room on the island of Bali on Aug. 12 and sentenced him to 18 years in jail, the Associated Press reported.
Heather Mack, 19, Schaefer's girlfriend and von Wiese-Mack's daughter, was convicted of helping him and sentenced to 10 years in jail following a trial in the same court.
The case generated headlines around the world after von Wiese-Mack's body was found stuffed in a suitcase outside the St. Regis Hotel, where the three, all from Chicago, were staying.
The verdict read out by presiding Judge Made Suweda, said: "Taking into account Chapter 340 of the criminal code and other related laws, (the panel) declared that the defendant Tommy Schaefer has been legally and convincingly guilty of committing premeditated murder," the AP reported.
"Therefore the defendant is sentenced to 18 years in jail."
The judge described Schaefer's actions as sadistic, but said his politeness and an expression of remorse meant he did not get a heavier sentence, the news agency said. It decided to be lenient toward Mack because she recently had a baby.
Heather Mack holds her baby inside a holding cell before attending court. (Photo: Sonny Tumbelaka, AFP/Getty Images)
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