US couple present defense in Bali suitcase murder case

DENPASAR/BALI: A US man and his pregnant girlfriend presented their defense on Wednesday at a hearing where they stand accused of murdering the woman’s mother, whose battered body was found stuffed in a suitcase on the resort island of Bali last August.
Heather Mack, 19, and her boyfriend Tommy Schaefer, 21, both from Chicago, are being tried separately at the Denpasar District Court on Bali. They could face the firing squad if found guilty of premeditated murder of Sheila von Wiese-Mack, 62, whose badly beaten body was found in a suitcase on the trunk of a taxi outside an upscale hotel Aug. 13.
In their pleas, the lawyers said indictments submitted last week have raised questions of whether there were other people entering the victim’s room and killing her. They asked the judges to annul the indictment.
The couple, both from Chicago, argued through their lawyers that the prosecutor’s case lacked credible witnesses and was unclear on where the crime took place.
“We object to the prosecutor’s letter because it’s not valid,” said Edi Iswahyudi, a member of Schaefer’s legal team.
Mack and her mother arrived in Bali on Aug. 4 and stayed in Kuta before moving to the St. Regis hotel in Nusa Dua, where they planned to stay at room 317 until Aug. 14, while Schaefer arrived Aug. 12 and stayed at room 616 of the same hotel, booked by Mack under her mother’s name, according to the indictment.
However, in describing activities of Schaefer and Mack in the morning of the woman’s death, the prosecutors mentioned the wrong numbers of the hotel rooms in their indictments, the lawyers said.
According to the indictment, “around 8:30 (0030 GMT) Schaefer, with an iron grip of a fruit bowl on his hand, has come to the 616 rooms, rang the bell and Mack opened the door for him. They then hug each other and chatted.”
“How come the defendant Tommy Schaefer, who stayed at room 616, came to room 616 ... and who has come to the room 317?” said Mack’s lawyer Ni Kadek Sri Novi Wirani. “Whether there are other people besides Tommy Schaefer who entered the room 317?”
She said that such inaccurate explanation caused multiple interpretations of the suspects’ activities and the crime scene.
Schaefer was charged last week with premeditated murder and Mack is charged with assisting her boyfriend in the killing of her mother, Sheila von Weise-Mack.
Under Indonesian law, the defendant does not enter a plea until the end of the trial.
According to Schaefer and Mack’s defense statements, which were read out in Denpasar District Court, evidence in the case was also prone to manipulation.
The presiding panel of three judges will decide on Jan. 28 whether the trial will proceed or if the case will be dismissed due to inadequate evidence.
Schaefer and Mack, both of whom were brought handcuffed to the court, could face the death penalty if found guilty.
A US court ruled on Tuesday that Mack can have access to $150,000 of her trust fund to pay legal bills and food costs.
Bali police conducted a four-month investigation into the killing that included a re-enactment with the defendants at the luxury hotel where Wiese-Mack’s body was found.
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.