Heather Mack: Bali 'suitcase murder' accomplice released early

Heather Mack has now been released from jail

An American woman convicted for helping to kill her mother in Bali has been released from jail early.

Heather Mack had been found guilty of assisting in the high-profile 2014 murder which saw her mother's body stuffed into a suitcase.

Mack subsequently was sentenced to 10 years in jail, but was released early on Friday.

Dubbed the "suitcase murder", the case had rocked the Indonesian island, which is not known for violent crime.

Mack, then 19, had travelled to Bali for a holiday with her then 21-year-old boyfriend Tommy Schaefer and her mother, wealthy socialite and academic Sheila von Wiese-Mack.

Following a heated argument with Ms von Wiese-Mack, Schaefer beat her to death with a fruit bowl in their hotel room at a five-star resort.

He claimed he had been defending himself after Ms von Wiese-Mack became angry upon learning that her daughter was pregnant.

Mack and Schaefer then stuffed her body into a suitcase, abandoned it in the boot of a taxi, and went on the run.

They were found by Bali police days later, hiding out at another hotel.

Schaefer was eventually sentenced to 18 years for the murder. Mack received a shorter jail term as she was found to have played a lesser role.

On Friday prison officials said Mack's sentence had been reduced because of good behaviour. She is now awaiting deportation to the US.

Sentence reductions are common in Indonesia.

Mack, who was pregnant at the time of the killing, subsequently gave birth in prison.

It is unclear if her six-year-old daughter, who has been living in the care of a foster family, will join her. But Mack's lawyer told AFP that she wishes for her daughter to stay in Bali to avoid being "hounded by the (US) media".

Mack has given media interviews over the years from prison, where she has talked about the incident as well as her troubled relationship with her mother.