BALI, Indonesia — The Chicago woman standing trial in Indonesia on a charge of murdering her mother gave birth to a girl Tuesday at a hospital on the resort island of Bali.
Heather Mack was admitted to Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar about 1 p.m. and gave birth about six hours later, Kerobokan prison chief Sudjonggo said.
One of her attorneys, Anthony Scifo, said Mack gave birth by cesarean and that she and the baby, named Stella, are healthy.
Mack, 19, and her boyfriend Tommy Schaefer, 21, are being tried on charges of murdering Sheila von Wiese-Mack whose body was found in a suitcase on a taxi at a hotel last August. They face possible death by firing squad if found guilty.
“I’m more than petrified,” Mack told the Chicago Sun-Times in February.
“I fear for Stella, my daughter, more than myself.”
According to Sudjonggo, who like many Indonesians uses a single name, prison rules would allow Mack to keep her baby with her at the prison until she is 2 years old. Mack has said she wants the baby to stay in Bali so she can visit her while in jail.
The hearings for the separate trials will be rescheduled pending Mack’s condition, said Hasoloan Sianturi, spokesman of the Denpasar District Court. Their trials are to resume March 24, when prosecutors would submit their sentencing demands.
Schaefer testified at Mack’s trial last week that he got angry at von Wiese-Mack because she used a racial slur against him and threatened the unborn baby. He also said the victim strangled him briefly and he struck her with a metal fruit bowl but didn’t remember how many times.
Mack testified that they panicked afterward and that she did not want her mother dead.
According to the indictment, Schaefer battered von Wiese-Mack following an argument over the hotel bill and Mack helped stuff her mother’s body into the suitcase by sitting on it to enable Schaefer to close it.
Prosecutors said Mack had suggested to Schaefer while they were in America that he hire someone for $50,000 to kill her mother.
Emily McFarlan Miller contributed to this report.
