Heather Mack, an American woman jailed in 2015, along with her then boyfriend, for her role in her mother's murder, leaves Kerobokan Prison in Bali, Indonesia. Reuters
Heather Mack, an American woman jailed in 2015, along with her then boyfriend, for her role in her mother's murder, leaves Kerobokan Prison in Bali, Indonesia. Reuters
Heather Mack, an American woman jailed in 2015, along with her then boyfriend, for her role in her mother's murder, leaves Kerobokan Prison in Bali, Indonesia. Reuters
Heather Mack, an American woman jailed in 2015, along with her then boyfriend, for her role in her mother's murder, leaves Kerobokan Prison in Bali, Indonesia. Reuters

Bali 'suitcase killer' gets early release from prison


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An American woman convicted with her boyfriend of killing her mother and stuffing the body in a suitcase at a luxury Bali hotel was freed from prison on Friday.

Heather Mack, then a teenager, was handed a 10-year jail term in 2015, while her boyfriend Tommy Schaefer got 18 years for the murder of Chicago socialite Sheila von Wiese Mack on the Indonesian holiday island.

Schaefer beat the 62-year-old victim to death with a fruit bowl during a heated argument at the five-star St Regis resort, before the couple abandoned the suitcase containing the battered body in a taxi and fled.

Mack, who was pregnant at the time of the crime, was found guilty on a lesser charge of assisting in the murder.

Now 25, she left Bali's Kerobokan prison on Friday after being granted early release for good behaviour, the head of the prison's female section said.

"Heather is completely free," said prison head Lili, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

"When she was released, she was a bit shocked and emotional. She hesitated and was scared, but we cheered her up."

Wearing sunglasses and an orange prison vest, Mack, who was 19 at the time of her conviction, was handed to immigration officials to await deportation back to the United States.

Heather Mack waits inside a holding cell at a court in Denpasar, Bali, during her trial in January 2015. AFP
Heather Mack waits inside a holding cell at a court in Denpasar, Bali, during her trial in January 2015. AFP

Bali's immigration office declined to comment on her case or say when she would be flown back home.

It was not immediately clear if Mack would leave with her six-year-old daughter, who was being raised in a Bali foster home.

Earlier, Mack's lawyer told AFP she did not want her daughter to be deported and "hounded by the media".

Since the pandemic, Mack – now fluent in Indonesian and Balinese – has had only video contact with her daughter, the prison head said.

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

The court heard how von Wiese Mack's badly beaten body was discovered in the taxi outside the 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 remained in prison, confessed to the killing during his trial but claimed he was defending himself during an argument with von Wiese Mack, who was unhappy that her daughter was pregnant.

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

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

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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The Porpoise

By Mark Haddon 

(Penguin Random House)
 

Five famous companies founded by teens

There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:

  1. Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate. 
  2. Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc. 
  3. Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway. 
  4. Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
  5. Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

Global state-owned investor ranking by size

1.

United States

2.

China

3.

UAE

4.

Japan

5

Norway

6.

Canada

7.

Singapore

8.

Australia

9.

Saudi Arabia

10.

South Korea

Updated: October 29, 2021, 6:22 AM